Introduction

Dear readers,

Welcome to the first newsletter of the Demos@Work project! Thank you for your interest in our work.

Our vision is to facilitate European-wide discussion between elected representatives and civil society via the use of ICT on the harmful effects of smoking, an emerging policy issues that has a potential impact on all countries within the European Union.

The focus of Demos@Work is mainly on citizens and politicians. We are creating with the support of the EU an online collaborative platform (www.demosatwork.org) that aims to facilitate the dialogue between regional/national-level elected representatives, the European parliament and citizens on health issues. It will use and test forms and methods of civic engagement. This will be achieved by configuring and putting into trial a secure, mobile environment through which elected representatives are able not only to engage with citizens on policy issues, but also to communicate and collaborate with their peers.

Your active involvement, feedback and experiences are valuable. Therefore, we would like to invite you to actively take part by sending us your views and information on relevant activities and events as well as by participating in the story telling section on our site. We are also very much interested in hearing about similar initiatives.

The Demosatwork newsletter features brief updates on our activities and on other related initiatives in the fields of e-democracy, e-government, citizen participation and legislative technologies, including useful links, resources and events.

Thank you,
The demos@work team

top >>

Project news

A story telling section available for the public
We are very interested in your point of view since the aim of Demos@Work project is to facilitate European-wide discussion on smoking. We invite you to narrate your story in a few words regarding smoking. You can even start your own blog in the following address: http://www.demosatwork.org/blog.htm

Second meeting of the Demos@Work Consortium
The second meeting of the Demos@Work consortium is taking place in Vilnius, Lithuania (3-4 of July) in order to evaluate the work done and coordinate the project activities.

First meeting of the demos@work consortium
The first meeting of the Demos@Work consortium took place in place in Brussels (3-4 February, 2008). Project management issues were discussed.

top >>

Interesting initiatives

EU anti smoking campaign : HELP - For a life without Tobacco
Help, the European online guide to stop smoking, gives useful information about tobacco addiction, danger of cigarette and health troubles, such as cancer or asthma. You can also discover the dangers of passive smoking for children and pregnant women and get special coaching to stop smoking.

For more information on this initiative and on the representation of all member states please consult this website.

General Practitioners for Smoking Cessation in Europe
In the frame of PESCE project 31 organisations from 27 countries have developed evidence-based policy recommendations and practice-based implementation strategies to increase the engagement of General Practitioners in smoking cessation in Europe. The project is running from August 2006 to June 2008 under the leadership of Tabac & Liberte (France) and is co-funded by the European Commission Public Health Directorate.

For more information please refer to the project’s Press release.

top >>

Publications

EU Tobacco Advertising Ban Effective
In less than three years after its entry into force the EU advertising ban has proven its effectiveness, according to the EU Report on the Implementation of the Tobacco Advertising Directive. This is the conclusion of the Commission report on the performance of the Tobacco Advertising Directive. Today, in general, the ban on tobacco advertising in print media is complied with.Traditional cigarette brand advertisements appear to be absent from publications intended for the general public. However, print media within the EU is not yet completely free from tobacco advertising and promotion.

To read the report click here

top >>

Events

eGov 2008 Conferene
Demos@work will be presented in the Seventh international EGOV conference 2008 that will take place within the DEXA conference cluster from August 31 to September 5, 2008 in Torino, Italy.

For more information on the Seventh international eGov conference 2008 click here

11th European Health Forum Gastein - "Values in health - from visions to reality"
The European Health Forum Gastein is the most important health policy event in the European Union. Leading experts from business and industry, science and academia, patient organisations/NGOs as well as numerous prominent decision makers in health policy present new ideas and use the EHFG as a platform for the exchange of experiences and opinions at the international level. It will take place from 1 to 4 October, 2008 in Bad Hofgastein, Austria.

For more information on The European Health Forum Gastein click here

top >>