New foundation of an international umbrella association under study
Following an extraordinary members meeting in Ljubljana/Slovenia on 25th November, the Swiss Hepatitis C Association and 11 other national organizations, declared that they will be leaving the European umbrella association ELPA, effective from 31st December 2018.
The following members have left:
• Hepatitis C Trust (founding member), UK
• Deutsche Leberhilfe e.V. (founding member), Germany
• Sano-Hep (founding member), Romania
• EPAC (founding member), Italy
• Dutch Liver Patients Association, the Netherlands
• Hepatitis Aid Austria, Austria
• PBC Foundation, UK
• Hellenic Liver Patient Association, Greece
• Stop Hepatitis, Ukraine
• HepActive, Bulgaria
• Hepatitis, Bulgaria
• Swiss Hepatitis C Association, Switzerland
The SHCA had just joined in 2018 the ELPA umbrella organisation created in 2004. The past months revealed a deep divide between a part of members and the board, and also within the membership itself, about fundamental questions regarding governance, transparency and which direction the umbrella association should take in the future. The extraordinary general members meeting in Slovenia could not resolve these differences. Therefore, the 12 organizations decided that they can better serve the needs of patients by leaving ELPA and forming a new organization.
The 12 former members of ELPA declared on 30 November that they will continue to work together for the sake of all liver patients and, in doing so, are determined to follow the highest standards of transparency, patient centricity and good governance. Further steps of a cooperation across borders in a future association are being discussed at this moment.
Swiss Hepatitis C Association