EMEA News Q4 2026
EMEA at WHO Europe RC76
Statements to the WHO Regional Committee for Europe
EMEA Statements to the 76th WHO Regional Committee for Europe
The European ME Alliance has prepared six statements for the 76th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, held in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 27 to 29 October 2026. Each statement brings the needs of people with ME into a different agenda item. Select a card to read the full statement.
State of health in the WHO European Region
Asks who is still missing from the picture of health in Europe? ME is presented as a structural blind spot: people with severe ME can be housebound or bedbound, yet appropriate clinical pathways and specialist knowledge remain scarce. The statement identifies three layers of harm, from the disease itself: from disbelief and stigma, and from systems that push patients beyond their physiological limits, and calls for accountability when preventable harm occurs.
Read the statement →Ageing is living: a lifetime of health and well-being
Argues that a strategy for a lifetime of health must include people who develop severe, long-term disability early in life. Highlighting post-exertional malaise in ME, EMEA calls for three safeguards: a genuine life-course and disability-inclusive approach, access to appropriate person-centred health and social care, including home-based care, and protection from avoidable harm caused by inappropriate care or disbelief.
Read the statement →Roadmap for action on artificial intelligence in health
Warns that AI built on incomplete or biased data could make people with ME even more invisible, after decades of under-recognition and diagnostic delay. EMEA asks WHO and Member States to make sure four safeguards are effectively implemented: data equity, patient participation in design and evaluation, human rights and human oversight that preserves independent clinical judgement, and transparency and accountability when AI is used in decisions about care.
Read the statement →Tackling noncommunicable diseases and advancing well-being
Urges WHO and Member States not to leave behind people living with chronic, disabling conditions that fall outside the traditional focus on the major NCDs. Using ME as a clear example, the statement describes the suffering caused by disbelief, neglect and inadequate care, and calls for a strategy that measures years lived with disability, quality of life, functional ability and access to appropriate care, including care at home, while promoting dignity and protection against discrimination.
Read the statement →Behavioural and cultural insights for equitable health
Under the title “An ethical imperative to protect lives by ending the culture of ME exclusion”, the statement identifies a profound policy gap for people with ME in WHO/Europe’s behavioural and cultural insights frameworks. It describes harm from interventions poorly adapted to the condition, insists that patient-reported deterioration must be heard, documented and independently reviewed, and calls for legal protection, accountability and meaningful dialogue with people living with ME.
Read the statement →Highest attainable standard of health for persons with disabilities
Calls for environmental accessibility to be recognised as a cross-cutting dimension of accessibility. Noise, light, temperature, fragrances and chemical exposures can cause lasting deterioration in ME and other conditions, keeping people out of care, school and work. EMEA asks WHO Europe to develop Environmental Accessibility Requirements for healthcare guidance, emergency preparedness and climate-health planning, with mechanisms to monitor implementation. The statement is endorsed by a growing list of European organisations.
Read the statement →Further Information:
Last Update: October 2026