Lab test Online
Press Release
6 February 2008
Lab Tests Online
The world is learning about lab tests…
The Lab Tests Online community celebrated last week in Brussels the arrival of the first versions to Europe, allowing citizens and primary care professionals to access peer reviewed, patient-centred, non-commercial information on laboratory testing, related conditions and screening programmes at one click’s reach. Representatives of the European institutions, citizens and patients groups, the scientific community and the industry, applauded the agreement to develop a new Greek version and the inclusion of Lab Tests Online on the EU-Health portal of the European Commission.
Lab Tests Online reaches per month around 1.5 million users world-wide, providing them with easy to understand, accurate and reliable information about laboratory tests, their related conditions and screening programmes in each country. The multilingual platform is now available in Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK, as well as in Australia and the United States.
The success of the European versions, visited by 300,000 European users per month, have convinced new partners to join the project. Greece, Portugal and the Czech Republic will be the next European partners to benefit from Lab Tests Online in their languages. Mr. Alexandros Haliassos, Special Secretary of the Greek Scientific Society of Clinical Chemistry, and Mr. Chrisanthos Mitropoulos, representative of Hellasmes, the Greek diagnostics association, announced with Christine Tarrajat, EDMA Director General the signature of the agreement to develop their national version.
“Laboratory medicine influences about 70% of the decisions taken by the doctors”, explained Jean-François de Lavison, EDMA President. “And for this reason, we at EDMA are especially proud to contribute to the progress and innovation of In Vitro diagnostics, as well as to its promotion and the diffusion of valuable information via projects like Lab Tests Online.”
Discussions are currently undergoing in France and the Netherlands, and the Lab Tests Online partners keep working to bring the site to the rest of the European Union Member States.
The work to translate and localise the website in these languages is an ongoing process with the cooperation of EDMA national IVD associations in those countries and the corresponding Scientific Societies for Clinical Biochemistry. It is in fact the national scientific societies the sole responsible for the translation, localisation and inclusion of content on each site.
The support of the European Commission
Lab Tests Online meets both a public need and the highest quality standards on health information. Values appreciated by the European Commission that has approved the inclusion of the European Lab Tests Online websites on the EU-Health Portal. Links to each linguistic version of Lab Tests Online have been posted on the main topics of the Commission’s portal related to laboratory testing.
“People are demanding to know more about their health and the internet is used more and more by people as a source of information for their own health”, stressed Andrzej J. Ryś, Public Health Director at the European Commission, in his intervention during the event. In particular, he revealed that, according to European survey1, “41.5% of Europeans think the internet is a good way to get information about health.”
Ms Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl, MEP, added that “the patient’s right to accurate, reliable and easy-to-understand healthcare information is a crucial right. The platform Lab Tests Online aims at promoting this right by helping European citizens to understand better what happens with their blood samples in clinical laboratories and what the results of the laboratory tests actually mean”, she concluded.
EDMA would like to take the opportunity to thank all the Lab Tests Online partners for their dedication and enthusiasm in communicating the value of laboratory testing, as well as each and every participant at the official launch for their support.
1. Source: Eurobarometer 58.0
Visit www.LabTestsOnline.info and choose your language!
Background:
EDMA, the European Diagnostic Manufacturers Association represents National Associations and major companies engaged in the research, development, manufacture or distribution of In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) medical devices in Europe. Through its affiliated National Associations, EDMA represents in total more than 500 companies (or over 700 legal entities) across Europe. The mission of EDMA is to raise awareness of the importance, usefulness and added-value that diagnostic information can provide to healthcare. For this purpose, EDMA cooperates with European institutions, patients groups, trade associations, health professionals and academia to support an appropriate regulatory system, to work towards a realistic economic environment for healthcare in Europe and to be an effective voice in globalisation.