1. magazine
Issue No. 4, June 2012
Elections to the ExCo ahead,
Annual Meeting in Istanbul, Policies
Fertility Europe summer starts at Bosporus
We hope you are ready for a Fertility
Europe summer as there are many
important events ahead. First we are
going to have our really warm Annual
Council Meeting in Istanbul on July
2, 2012, including the important
introduction of the candidates for
the Executive Committee of Fertility
Europe. On the same day, the new
ExCo, as we familiarly call it, will be
elected for a period of three years.
In order to make your decisions a
little easier, we decided to introduce
all six candidates and repeat the most
important Articles from the Statutes
of Fertility Europe related to Elections, Proxy voting as well as some other details. Naturally,
you are welcome to check on more on our website www.fertilityeurope.eu.
New Brochure - share, spread and use
We are very proud to present you with the new Fertility Your free copy, July 2012
Europe Brochure. Your personal copies will be available
for you in Istanbul and the interactive pdf version can be
downloaded from the website.
www.fertilityeurope.eu
The Brochure provides up-to-date information on Who we For one in six fertility is an issue
are, our Working Groups, the Policies work, short history
Today Fertility Europe is the largest 1. To build a strong European network of
and most representative association various stakeholders in order to achieve
of European organisations involved the exchange of best practise.
with fertility issues with members from
over 20 European countries. And we 2. To promote education in the field of
of Fertility Europe, our Patient Sessions as well as goals
are still growing, hand in hand with the protection of reproductive health and a
importance of human fertility and the pro-active approach to family planning.
desire for a child.
3. To improve the situation concerning
All of us, in our national organisations the rights of those affected by difficulties
and achievements of the Special Families Campaign. With
- the Members - are involved on a daily in conceiving in many areas.
basis with assisting those affected by
difficulties in conceiving. Please, join our effort.
information for health professionals, potential commercial
Together, we have a strong voice
and capacity and apart from sharing
information, useful ideas, projects and
experience, we have three main goals:
partners and sponsors the Brochure is - in a fresh and modern
design - the tool for every Member to present itself as a
A mother is born each
time a child is born.
—Boyka and Bozidar
from Bulgaria, Special Families
part of the largest and most representative organisation of
European associations involved with fertility issues and very
helpful in presenting the basic facts about Fertility Europe.
Candidates for the Executive Committee 2012 - 2015
Clare Lewis-Jones from the United Kingdom
1 Infertility Network UK, Chief Executive for 9 years
Having been through infertility myself and benefitted directly from the support offered
by the patient association I recognised how important that support is and got involved.
The benefits of being members of Fertility Europe (FE) are demonstrated by how members
are sharing their initiatives with others, using the umbrella that FE provides to help their
campaigns nationally and getting support from each other. I have enjoyed my last 3 years on
the Executive Committee and hope that you will vote for me to stay.
Denisa Priadková from the Slovak Republic
2 Civil Association Stork, Občianske združenie Bocian, Chair for 11 years
I had always had a very clear vision for Fertility Europe to be a high profile, poweful,
independent association. I see the need for regulations, best practise exchange and ethics
on European level and identified huge need for prevention education. As one of founding
members of Fertility Europe I helped to build its identity, structure and initiated the
successful Special Families Campaing. When I was the only one from „the East“, I decided to
change it. I still have goals for which I am ready to work hard.
Satu Rautakallio-Hokkanen from Finland
3 Simpukka, the Finnish Infertility Association, Secretary of the association
I have been through every possible treatment and today I am active in the Finnish Intertility
Association Simpukka together with my husband Pertti. I have been a volunteer in Fertility
Europes‘ Working Group MORE (Membership and Outreach) for the past three years.
During that time I‘ve seen how important the European co-operation is for all of us and I
think I now have the courage to be a member in the demanding work that the Executive
Committee does.
Elin Einarsdottir from Iceland
4 Tilvera, the Icelandic Infertility Association, Board Member for 9 years
Hi, people usually call me Ella and I am child free. Why did I decide to be a candidate?
Through my work with Tilvera I‘ve learned how big of a difference an infertility association
can make in the lives of those who‘re dealing with infertility. Since Tilvera joined Fertility
Europe I‘ve also seen how the support of other associations has made a difference to the
work of Tilvera. I have the enthusiasm and time to devote to both associations, all I need is
your vote to give me the opportunity.
Ofra Balaban-Kasztelanski from Israel
5 CHEN, Patient Fertility Association, the Israeli umbrella organization since 1998
CHEN is a Member of Fertility Europe since its establishment and I am a member of its
Fundraising Working Group. Through my activity in CHEN and FE, as well as other
international bodies, I have learned the need for a change in the field of infertility. We need
to find the ways to break the silence on one hand and change laws and the atmosphere
on the other. We support the patients and teach young pupils to prevent infertility. We
promote new laws and fight for better and new treatments. These activities are needed to
be done on European level as well and I wish to have your vote in order to promote it.
Alina Beatris David from Romania
6 SOS Infertilitatea, the Romanian infertility association, Chair since 2009
I am the Chair of the Romanian association on a voluntary basis. Why did I decide to be a
candidate for Fertility Europe? Because I believe in the European umbrella organisation, I
really think that all together we are better and stronger. I am ready to dedicate my experience
and my energy to Fertility Europe, as I make in Romania together with my colleagues, for the
cause of people who have difficulties in conceiving.
The statutes and points regarding the elections
Going through the statutes of Fertility Europe we
summarised the relevant information and put it
together in one place for you. First, it‘s important to
note that only Effective Members are allowed to vote
at the meeting and have one vote each. To cast that
vote the Effective Member will appoint a single person
(delegate), who is an active member of the association
s-/he represents, to cast that vote.
Second, we have to allow for the fact that perhaps not
every Effective Member may be able to send a delegate
to the meeting. In that case another Effective Member
can be given permission to vote on their behalf as long
as written notification is presented to the Chairperson
before the meeting starts. It‘s important to note that
each attending Effective Member may only vote on
behalf of one absent Effective Member.
Third, when electing members for the ExCo, each Effective member can only vote for a
maximum of five candidates. It‘s worth mentioning a few things about the general process
of voting at Fertility Europe meetings. A subject is introduced and discussed, then someone
proposes that the subject will be approved, rejected, modified or other, another person
seconds the proposal and at that point the voting will happen. Hopefully this will have
clarified any questions you may have had about the subject.
Bucharest, Policy work and the
forthcoming Wall of Hope II in Istanbul
with over 500 SF postcards
Awareness week and the Spring Members Meeting in Bucharest
Between April 12-13, 2012
we met in Bucharest for our
regular Spring Members
Meeting. The Romanian
Member, SOS Infertilitatea,
organised a week of on-line
and off-line events focusing
on awareness and prevention
of infertility between the 9th
and 13th April 2012.
So far, there are no plans for a
legal framework in Romania
for Medically Assisted
Reproduction although
SOS Infertilitatea strongly
advocates for one. They had arranged a meeting with Mrs. Cristina Dobri, Deputy Vice-
President of the Health Commission of the Chamber of Deputies and Mr. Corneliu Grosu,
Senator, Secretary of the Health Commission of the Senate, a meeting Clare Lewis-Jones,
Chair of Fertility Europe was proud to be invited to. The objectives of the meeting were
to support the advocacy activities of SOS Infertilitatea and their efforts to settle a MAR
legal framework including reimbursement schemes and patient centered treatments;
state that there is a necessity all over Europe to have equality of access to MAR; and put
forward other European examples which are a relevant benchmark. The role of the Chair
of Fertility Europe was to explain our work and stress that we also recognized the need to
work with policymakers across Europe and the different European countries. At the meeting
she outlined the inequality of access to treatments across Europe as well as the diversity of
legislation across Europe. This way we would like to thank the Romanian association again
for excellent work and taking care of us. We all felt so welcome!
Policy paper close to finalizing
During the meeting in Bucharest our Chair, Clare Lewis-Jones introduced the draft policy
paper “Equity of Access to MAR” that Fertility Europe was close to finalizing. The document
makes recommendations to make Europe a better place to live for people with fertility
problems explaining that FE’s aim was to achieve the equality of access across Europe by
raising the issue at EU level and keeping the issue on the political agenda. Fertility Europe
is pleased to say that the meeting went incredibly well and showed the benefits of FE
supporting national lobbying activities.
Do not miss the FE Patient Session 2012 at ESHRE
3 On Wednesday July 4, 2012 on 8.30 we have the regular Fertility Europe Patient Session. We
invite you all very cordially and are proud to introduce the topic: “Quality in various aspects
of fertility treatment (quality of medical care, quality of clinics, quality of information,
quality of life)”. We have some excellent speakers, so please, make sure you do not miss it:
- The role of clinical guidelines in quality of care – Wilianne Nelen (The Netherlands)
- Quality in MAR perceived by the Eastern European Patient - Alina Beatris David (Romania)
- Quality of Treatment, when there is only one clinic - Elin Einarsdottir (Iceland)
- Quality from the Regulator‘s perspective - Peter Thompson from HFEA (United Kingdom)
Wall of Hope with 500 Special Families
Within fourteen months from the launch of the Special
Families Campaign we have received hundreds of sometimes
unbelievable stories with precious photographs, full of
emotions, hope, patience and all with a very strong personal
message.
You can view the Special Families (SF) postcards on our website under SF section within
the National Galleries and are welcome to have a look at the newly launched Best stories,
Special Families postcards translated from 20 countries and 18 languages to English, proving
there is only one Europe when it comes to the desire for a child. Almost 60 enlarged SF Best
stories will be exhibited in the booth of Fertility Europe in Istanbul with lots of promotional
material for you to take home and spread the word!
We are so proud of the positive energy engraved in the personal message on each postcard
and grateful to the couples who shared the private happiness with Fertility Europe that
180 SF postcards were exhibited at the so called “Wall of Hope” at the venue of the ESHRE
Annual Meeting in 2011 in Stockholm. Due to the huge success in 2011, this year a much
larger exhibition of over 500 Special Families postcards will be held and will attract
international attention in Istanbul. In addition, our Members are already planning their own
Special Families exhibitions and awareness events. We also started receiving stories from all
over the world and therefore an International Gallery was added to the 20 existing ones. Of
course, we expect even more.