Another eventful year for ATOME

Another eventful year for ATOME

After having achieved several important milestones last year, 2012 will be another eventful year for the Access To Opioid Medication in Europe (ATOME) project.

The overall goal of this project is to undertake applied research into the reasons why opioid medicines for moderate to severe pain and for the treatment of opioid dependence are often not available where needed and not used adequately in twelve European countries.

2011 – analysis, foundation, preparation

Last autumn, two six-country workshops were successfully realised in Bucharest (Romania) with delegations from all twelve target countries and a guest delegation from the Ukraine participating and developing national action plans for improving access to opioid medications. By the end of 2011, the “quick scan” of legislation had been performed with the aim to detect aspects that are a potential barrier to the access and availability of opioids in the respective country.

2012 – dissemination, intensification, implementation

This year, a series of national 1-day conferences will be started aiming at sensitisation of key stakeholders towards opioid availability in their country. The results of the quick scan of legislation will be followed up by a more in-depth analysis of the legislation in the target countries.

For more information, visit the ATOME session at the next EAPC World Research Congress in Trondheim (Thursday 7^th June 2012, 18:00 – 19:00) and the ATOME website.

Posted by Saskia Jünger, Dr. rer. medic., University Hospital Bonn, Germany.