[ATTENTION: NEW DATE AND TIME]

The MEP Interest Group on Integrative Medicine and Health is delighted to invite you to the event ‘Integrative Medicine and Health in prevention and management of COVID-19 and long COVID’ on Tuesday 14 June 15.00-17.00 CEST.

Expert speakers will report on how Integrative Medicine and Health can:

● Improve resilience to COVID-19 and similar infections,

● Reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 or development of Long COVID by promoting resilience and health restoration, and

● Improve the recovery from Long COVID.

Key speakers and topics:

Therapeutic strategies of complementary medicines in the COVID 19 pandemic and Long COVID in addition to conventional medicine

Dr Joanna Dietzel, MD Neurologist, Acupuncturist. Department for integrative & complementary medicine, Institute of social medicine, epidemiology and health economics, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.

Chinese herbal medicine treatment in cases of infections with SARS-CoV-2 - therapeutic strategies for COVID-19 and Long COVID

Dr Christian Thede, MD, General practitioner, specialised in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. Former lecturer in Chinese medicine, University of Witten-Herdecke, Germany

Instructor for Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine at International Society of Chinese Medicine (SMS).

Infectious illness and patient resilience: In preparation for the next pandemic

Dr Joan Vidal-Jove, MD, Director of Comprehensive Tumor Center Barcelona, Institut Khuab for Interventional Oncology, Spain

Traditional and Complementary Medicine contributions to health system resilience during COVID-19 - the WHO perspective

Dr Geetha Gopalakrishna, MD, Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine & Surgery

Technical Officer at Traditional, Complementary & Integrative Medicine, Department of Service Delivery and Safety, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

Key member of the AYUSH-based COVID-19 response Task Force for the Government of India.

Research programme into integrative medicine's contribution to improving resilience to COVID-19 infection and reducing the risk of severe COVID-19 or development of Long COVID

Dr Helene M. Langevin, Director at National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (MD), USA. Previously, Director of the Harvard Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston (MA) and professor of neurological sciences at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont (VT).

Q&A sessions after the presentations.

Enhancing resilience: a solution for COVID-19 and other infectious illnesses

Certain common medical conditions put people at higher risk for severe illness and death from COVID-19. Nearly two-thirds of COVID-19 hospitalisations can be attributed to obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure. A health system that focuses on improving health could prevent all these conditions to a large extent.

Many people remain unaffected or develop a mild illness because infectious disease comprises two factors: the microbe on one side and population health and resilience on the other. Reducing susceptibility by building an effective immune system needs focus at this crucial time.

More than 40% of people who have or had COVID-19 get Long COVID, and among people who needed hospitalisation, the statistics go up to 57%. The recovery from such post-viral syndromes will be greatly helped by offering patients access to complementary and integrative medicine interventions that aim at restoring their health.

MEP Interest Group on Integrative Medicine and Health

The event is hosted by the members of the MEP Interest Group on Integrative Medicine & Health:

Michèle Rivasi, Greens/EFA, France

Sirpa Pietikäinen, EPP, Finland

Tilly Metz, Greens/EFA, Luxembourg

Margrete Auken, Greens/EFA, Denmark

Romana Jerković, S&D, Croatia

Manuela Ripa, Greens/EFA, Germany

After your registration on the Eventbrite website, we will send you the link to the live stream. A few days before the launch, you will receive a reminder email.

Please be aware that, if you are planning to join the event in the European Parliament, you need to fill in the extra information to give you access to the Parliament building. Information required: full name, date of birth, nationality, type of ID and number of the ID document.

We look forward to seeing you online.

Best regards,

Secretariat of the MEP Interest Group on Integrative Medicine & Health