Allergic diseases are increasing worldwide and are expected to affect 4 billion people by 2050, imposing a huge economic burden. The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) is raising awareness of this growing public health crisis through various initiatives like an ongoing allergy awareness campaign and the creation of a European Parliament interest group on allergy and asthma. EAACI's efforts aim to help allergy patients better manage their conditions and improve quality of life while also increasing resources to tackle the allergy epidemic.

1. PRESS RELEASE
World Allergy Week 2015
Allergy: an increasing burden for all Europeans
 Allergic diseases are on the rise and are expected to affect up to 4 billion people by
the 2050s
 The avoidable indirect costs of failure to properly treat allergy in the EU is estimated
to range between 55 and 151 billion Euro per annum
 Urgent action is needed to increase awareness and to decrease the burden imposed
by allergic diseases
 Several steps have already been taken by EAACI, ranging from a public awareness
campaign to political actions (such as the Advocacy Manifesto and the creation of an
Allergy Interest Group in the European Parliament), to scientific publications (such as
The Global Atlas of Allergy) to the creation of a Task Force tackling the health
economics of allergic diseases
Zurich, 16 April, 2015 – Allergic diseases are one of the most common chronic diseases
affecting the lives of more than one billion people worldwide. The epidemic has been on the
rise in the last 60 years and the prevalence of allergic diseases is expected to reach up to 4
billion by the 2050s, thus confronting society with major effects on macroeconomics as a
consequence of huge direct and indirect costs due to healthcare, loss of productivity and
patient absenteeism. Today, more than 150 million Europeans suffer from chronic allergic
diseases and the current prediction is that by 2025 half of the entire EU population will be
affected.
Up to 20% of patients with allergies live with a severe debilitating form of their condition,
struggling daily with the fear of a possible asthma attack or even death from a severe
allergic reaction such as an anaphylactic shock.
While at the beginning of the 20th
Century allergy was seen as a rare disease, in the last few
decades we have witnessed a dramatic increase in disease burden. As well as being
devastating for individuals who face a relentless loss in productivity and impairment of their
quality of life, dealing with these patients imposes a significant cost on national health
systems. The avoidable indirect costs of failure to properly treat allergy in the EU is
estimated to range between 55 and 151 billion Euro per annum. When more than 150
million EU citizens suffer from a chronic allergic disease, half of whom are underdiagnosed
or poorly managed due to a lack of awareness and shortage of medical specialists, we are
confronted with a public health crisis, one that needs to be promptly addressed.
The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) is taking the
opportunity offered by World Allergy Week 2015 to again raise its voice to alert the EU

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population and its leaders to the growing public health burden posed by allergy in Europe
and across the world.
In June 2014, to tackle the high number of unmet needs due to low public recognition of the
burden of allergic diseases, EAACI launched an ongoing European level allergy awareness
campaign called “Beware of Allergy”. This campaign is divided into various waves focusing
on different allergic diseases: asthma (Autumn 2014), food allergy and anaphylaxis (Winter
2015), and allergic rhinitis and allergen immunotherapy (Spring 2015).
By focusing on education for allergy prevention, early diagnosis and correct management,
EAACI hopes to help patients and their families to better control their allergy and improve
their quality of life, and to increase the resources allocated by society to manage the allergy
epidemic.
To ensure that this message is shared with the broadest audience for a greater impact,
EAACI has partnered with many collaborators: national allergy societies (Spain, France,
Italy and Germany), patients’ organisations (Asthma-Allergy Denmark, Swiss Allergy
Centre, Asthma-Allergy French Association, EFA and FARE) and the Pharmaceutical Group of
the European Union (PGEU), with the involvement of the national pharmacists communities
from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, France, Italy, Ukraine, Slovenia, Spain and
Turkey.
Thanks to this great collaboration, the campaign has so far been successful and feedback is
very positive.
Also in June 2014, EAACI launched the Global Atlas of Allergy written by 183 leading
scientists from all over the world. The Atlas was distributed worldwide to government
structures and scientific societies related to allergy (such as those for paediatricians,
dermatologists, pneumologists and primary care physicians). It has received very positive
feedback and is currently being translated into several languages including Chinese and
Spanish. The Atlas is available with open access at
http://www.eaaci.org/resources/scientific-output/global-atlas-of-allergy.html
At the beginning of 2015, EAACI released the European Advocacy Manifesto. This document
proposes a series of evidence-based recommendations to tackle the burden of allergy in
Europe, foster allergy research and help strengthen allergology as a medical specialty.
As a further step towards political recognition of the burden of allergic diseases, the first
meeting of the European Parliament Interest Group on Allergy and Asthma took place on 25
March 2015. The meeting was organised by EAACI in association with the European
Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients’ Associations (EFA). Under the
leadership of MEP Sirpa Pietikäinen (Finland), the Interest Group on Allergy and Asthma
aims to give a clearer policy response to address allergy and asthma at an EU level. The

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Interest Group will serve to share expertise and help align interests to trigger EU policy
actions on allergy and asthma health. Members of the Group will provide a strong and
unified contribution to EU policies on chronic diseases, air pollution, environmental health
and research, as well as on other areas.
Last but not least, EAACI has developed a Health Economics Task Force to deal specifically
with issues related to the efficiency, effectiveness and value of interventions in the
management of allergic diseases. Relying on evidence-based data for direct, indirect and
intangible costs related to allergic diseases, the Task Force will analyse and prioritise
various intervention models meant to decrease the burden of allergic diseases on society
and individuals.
The feedback received from all EAACI’s awareness increasing initiatives proves that there is
a pressing need to help the general public, healthcare professionals and decision-makers to
better understand how allergy sufferers feel, how profound allergy impacts quality of life,
how severe and costly the diseases can become, and how important it is to diagnose early
and better manage allergic diseases. The EAACI initiatives are thus important step towards
ensuring quality care for allergy patients in Europe and worldwide, and will help move
towards the establishment of strategies to tackle the root causes of allergies, fostering
allergy research and improving prevention and care.
Feedback from some of the partners of the “Beware of Allergy” Campaign:
“PGEU represents over 400,000 community pharmacists across Europe and has had the
pleasure of working with EAACI on the allergy awareness campaign. PGEU members, who
are national chambers or associations of pharmacists/pharmacies, have a significant public
health and awareness role to play in European health systems.
Pharmacists are strategically located in the community to provide advice on self-care,
chronic disease management, prescribed therapy as well as, of course, on public health
topics such as allergy awareness. The deployment of the campaign has acted as another
resource for pharmacists to engage with their patients for their health and wellbeing and we
look forward to a continued collaboration with EAACI in the future.”
Jamie Wilkinson, Director of Professional Affairs
Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU), www.pgeu.eu
“For the Spanish Society of Allergy to collaborate in the diffusion of this campaign
represents an endorsement of the argument that Spanish allergists have always advocated
that allergies are a global public health problem, and that it is necessary to implicate all the
parties to reduce the possibility of unwanted serious allergic reactions and to increase the
quality of life of allergic patients. The second wave of the “Beware of Allergy” campaign,
focusing on food allergy and anaphylaxis was covered by seven national news agencies and

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media, 30 internet-based regional and local newspapers, reaching an audience of more than
6 million people.”
Dr Pedro Ojeda, Communications Director
Spanish Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (SEAIC), www.seaic.org
“One of the core activities of most of the members of the patients’ organisations
participating in this Committee is that they deal with patients having all kinds of allergies,
and specifically those at risk of food related severe reactions (anaphylaxis) on a daily basis.
Raising awareness of the impact and burden of allergic diseases, especially for those at risk
of food induced anaphylaxis is part of our daily quest.
The Members of the POC are delighted that EAACI has started this initiative, and that the
POC is involved and is able to disseminate this valuable information, which is really helping
to make the wider community aware.
This awareness campaign is an important activity to show the general public and politicians
the financial burden of allergic diseases and their impact on the quality of life of those not
only having allergic reactions, but especially those at risk of severe allergic reactions.”
Frans Timmermans, EAACI Chair of Patient Organisations Committee (POC)
“Food allergies are not only potentially life threatening, they are life altering. That’s why it is
critically important for us to come together to raise awareness of food allergy as a serious
global public health issue. We applaud EAACI on its continuing efforts to help communities
understand allergic diseases.”
Mary Jane Marchisotto, Senior Vice President
Research Food Allergy Research & Education (FARES), www.foodallergy.org
For more information, please contact:
Claudie Lacharite - EAACI Communications Manager (claudie.lacharite@eaaci.org, + 41 44 205 55 32)
About EAACI
The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, EAACI, is a non-profit
organisation active in the field of allergic and immunologic diseases such as asthma, rhinitis,
eczema, occupational allergy, food and drug allergy and anaphylaxis. EAACI was founded in
1956 in Florence and has become the largest medical association in Europe in the field of
allergy and clinical immunology. It includes over 8,500 members from 121 countries, as well
as 49 National Allergy Societies.
References
1. Global Atlas of Allergy
2. EAACI Advocacy Manifesto
3. www.bewareofallergy.com
4. www.eaaci.org