In Europe, approximately 150 million citizens suffer from chronic allergic diseases and 7 million Europeans have food allergies. If treated adequately almost €150 billion could be saved per year by preventing the reduced productivity and the higher medication costs associated with inadequately treated allergy and asthma (Source: EAACI advocacy manifesto). This enormous disease burden deserves to become a special focus for policy makers, the lay public, clinicians and researchers worldwide. Activities to tackle the allergy epidemic require funding by public agencies. Clinicians and researchers should disseminate their clinical and scientific knowledge not only to the scientific and clinical community, but they should also translate their finding into easily understandable language to inform the general public, politicians, administrations and potential donors. Moreover, adequate education of patients plays an important role in everyday clinical work to ensure full success of medical treatment, a time-consuming task that would benefit from high quality public engagement resources. Due to the increasing need for common knowledge in this field, public outreach activities are essential to provide information about complex immunological mechanisms underlying allergy and asthma in an easily understandable way to the lay public and allergic patients, as well as students, early researchers, clinicians and other health care professionals not specifically trained in immunology.

Basic & Clinical Immunology Section

Chair: Eva Untersmayr
Secretary: Milena Sokolowska