At the invitation of Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe, ERS attended the 66th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, which took place from 12 to 15 September, 2016, in Copenhagen.

On 8 September, 2016, the European Respiratory Society (ERS) participated in a high-level European public health policy conference entitled “Resistance: Antibiotics, Politics and Public Health.”

A recent ERJ editorial highlights the achievements of the ERS fellowship programme, which significantly expanded over the past three years and has supported more than 620 clinicians and scientists to further their careers since 1997.

The online abstract submission platform is now open for the 15th Lung Science Conference "Mechanistic overlap between chronic lung injury and cancer". The abstract submission deadline is 4 November, 2016.

A new document providing guidelines on the ideal regimen process for TB treatment was launched last week (4 September, 2016) during the ERS International Congress.

ERS and the European Sleep and Research Society (ESRS) are pleased to announce registration is now open for the fourth Sleep and Breathing conference, alongside an open call for abstracts.

Air quality affects 100% of the population. Adults spend one third of their lives at work, yet how many healthcare professionals remember to take occupational history as part of standard clinical practice?

The ERS International Congress 2016: the world’s largest respiratory meeting

The Healthy Lungs for Life campaign is a joint project undertaken by ERS and the European Lung Foundation (ELF). It is one of the largest lung health campaigns to date.

The ERS International Congress 2016 has a number of digital resources designed to enable complete and interactive coverage of the goings-on at this year’s event.

A number of Healthy Lungs for Life asthma training workshops and respiratory health events for communities in Malawi were held this month.

There are a growing number of programmes offering unregulated stem cell treatments designed to treat respiratory infections, according to a new statement from respiratory societies across the world.

The Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) is looking to appoint a new Executive Director. ERS is an active member of FIRS and as such we would like to share this exciting opportunity amongst our network.

Applications must be submitted before 15 September, 2016.

A study has determined that the drug Feviprant is effective in reducing eosinophilic airway inflammation in patients with mild-to-severe asthma and could improve asthma treatment.

Voting is open for the ERS Elections 2016. We would like to encourage all ERS members to participate before voting closes on 5 September 2016.

Adults who consume large amounts of alcohol were found to have less nitric oxide in their exhaled breath compared to those who consumed less alcohol.

Respipedia, ERS’s respiratory focussed wiki, has had a number of new topics added in recent weeks – broadening the scope of specialist subjects available through the site. Additionally, we have added a number of new useful features to improve usability of the system – including notification of most viewed articles, email alerts and citation improvements.

This World Lung Cancer Day on 1 August, the European Respiratory Society (ERS), alongside members of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) commemorates, celebrates and supports those impacted by lung cancer. FIRS joins the grassroots efforts of the lung cancer community to raise awareness about lung cancer and its global impact, creating an educational movement of understanding lung cancer risks as well as early treatment around the world.

Researchers have identified a new route of entry that Mycrobacterium tuberculosis infects the body through, that could have significant implications for the development of new therapies to prevent tuberculosis infection.

Researchers have found that older adults with COPD who take prescribed opioids are twice as likely to die due to respiratory-related complications when compared to non-opioid users, and the risk for users of the most potent opioids increases further to five times the level of non-opioid users.

Last year’s ERS International Congress was the largest ever with over 23,000 delegates in attendance and 4,021 abstract presentations, covering the broad spectrum of respiratory medicine.

Researchers have found that the Great Smog of 1952 led to increased rates of childhood asthma, in addition to increasing the likelihood of developing adult asthma later in life.

Dr Giovanni Battista Migliori, member of the ELF Council and Secretary General of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) participated in a World Health Organization meeting which looked at efforts to fight tuberculosis (TB) in the Americas.

On 7th June, The European Parliament will vote on the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. the European Respiratory Society, the European Network on Smoking and Tobacco Prevention and the European Federation of Allergy and Airway Diseases Patients' Associations call on MEPs to give their consent to the ratification.

On World No Tobacco Day (31 May, 2016), the European Respiratory Society (ERS) and the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP) encouraged Member States to follow the example set by France, Ireland and the UK and adopt plain packing to tackle the burden of tobacco-related disease.