Launch of the official website of the Pain Alliance Europe (PAE)

-NATO pan-European for patients with chronic pain presents its new website in the EU Parliament

Brussels, April 2012.- Pain Alliance Europe (PAE), the European Alliance of pain, has officially launched its website www.pae-eu.eu in the European Parliament. The Pan-European network consisting of 18 non-governmental organizations from 11 countries of the EU, was officially founded on November 29, 2011. It aims to bring together national and local organizations and patient groups representing the interests of the patient to address the problem of chronic pain at European level.

One in every four Europeans suffers an unbearable pain, 100 million only in the 27 States of the EU and half of them not being treated adequately, or taken seriously. As well as rheumatic, orthopaedic and cancer pain is recognized and there are many groups fighting for their adequate treatment, chronic pain and disease is esconocido by a large number of health professionals and society in general.

The PAE would like to raise awareness about what it means to live with constant pain and without adequate treatment and its impact on the quality of life of patients with chronic pain ”, says Joop van Griensven, President of the PAE. together with the enormous impact that chronic pain has on the individual and their social lifeIt is also important to note that it causes high economic costs each year. Absenteeism and the money spent on the health and social system due to erroneous diagnosis and treatment, is what causes that they are losing billions of euros ” commented.

21% Of Europeans with chronic pain is incapable of working and of these, 61% says it impacts directly on their employment situation. According to the report proposal of the European Council on pain ”, chronic pain could be costing Europe about 300 billion euros per year. Norway, followed by Poland and Italy, tops the list of countries with the highest prevalence of severe pain.