Call for a national plan for rare diseases.

Tapping the Power of Soda Taxes: A Call for Multidisciplinary Research and Broad-Based Advocacy Coalitions – A Response to the Recent Commentaries

Key outcomes from stakeholder workshops at a symposium to inform the development of an Australian national plan for rare diseases

BACKGROUND Calls have been made for governments to adopt a cohesive approach to rare diseases through the development of national plans. At present, Australia does not have a national plan for rare diseases. To progress such a plan an inaugural Australian Rare Diseases Symposium was held in Western Australia in April 2011. This paper describes the key issues identified by symposium attendees fo...

Foreign Language Education Policies in Iran: Pivotal Macro Considerations

Foreign Language Education Policy (FLEP) needs to be understood as part of broader educational policies and as situated within overarching social macro plans. In this paper, based on a conception of policy as distinct from goals and objectives, and with a view of the relevant literature, we will present some theoretical guidelines of setting and/or evaluating foreign language education policies...

The German plan for rare diseases: a development in progress

In the year 2008, the German Federal Ministry of Health initiated a comprehensive study on the topic, “Activities for the improvement of health care for people with Rare Diseases”. The study was motivated by recommendations on Rare Diseases by the European Council of Health Ministers. One important aim of the Council is to develop strategies and plans to improve the situation for patients with ...

National plans: case study Belgium

In October 2011 the Belgian Fund for Rare Diseases and Orphan Drugs, a consortium of stakeholders supported by the King Baudouin Foundation, handed over the recommendations and proposed measures for a Belgian Plan for Rare Diseases. In follow-up of the EU recommendations to issue national plans by 2013, the Minister of Public Health and Social Affairs commissioned the Fund to propose a comprehe...