The IEEPO 2024 event took place on 13 and 14 March 2024 at the Hyatt Regency Zurich Airport The Circle, Switzerland.

Patient organisations from all over the world were invited with their representatives, speakers and guest speakers. The various panel discussions on exciting and important topics were held with several committed stakeholders from politics, industry and patient organisations.

This year’s event was entitled Accelerating Action: Humanising healthcare for all. It highlighted the crucial role of patient organisations in Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as key catalysts and champions of change at global and local levels to support the design of healthcare systems according to patients’ needs.

To this end, on both days of the event, we had the opportunity to participate in group discussions and collaborate with like-minded people to address the challenges of Universal Health Coverage (UHC): (Universal Health Coverage (UHC) means that all people can access health services – with adequate quality and without the risk of impoverishment due to cost).

In the first breakout sessions, we were able to work intensively in smaller groups on the topic of Accelerating Action in Health Equity. The second breakout session focused on “Accelerating Action in Evidence Based Advocacy”. The IEEPO 2024 event concluded with the Accelerating Action in Policy Dialogue breakout before all participants came together again in plenary to close the event.

On the second day, Thomas Schinecker, CEO of the Roche Group, shared with us many personal aspects, his views on UHC and the future of the global IEEPO community. At the end he took a lot of time to answer the upcoming questions of the IEEPO community. After the group photo with the 300 participants of the IEEPO 2024 event, Swiss patient representatives Rosmarie Pfau and Carina Bobzin enjoyed a snapshot with Thomas Schinecker, CEO of the Roche Group, and Alexandra Schmid, Head of Patient Partnership at Roche Switzerland.

As honorary president of the Swiss Liver Patients Association Swiss HePa, I would like to thank Alexandra Schmid, Head of Patient Partnership, Roche Switzerland, for the kind invitation, good organisation of the successful event and the many exciting networking opportunities and informative discussions.