The Association of European Coeliac Societies (AOECS) is proud to support the Digestive Health Manifesto 2025, developed during the Digestive Health Roundtable in Berlin at UEG Week 2025.
The manifesto highlights the urgent need to strengthen prevention, improve early diagnosis, and ensure fair and equitable access to care for all people living with digestive diseases – including coeliac disease.
A core message running throughout the manifesto is the call to embed the patient voice at every level of healthcare, policy, and research. AOECS strongly supports this position.
As an organisation representing millions of people daily living with coeliac disease across Europe, we recognise how essential it is that patients are not only heard but actively involved in shaping the services, systems, and innovations designed for them.
The manifesto outlines key recommendations to improve the integration of patient perspectives, such as:
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standardising and co-designing patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) to better reflect the lived reality of digestive diseases;
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promoting health literacy and ensuring accessible and inclusive tools for all patients;
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establishing stronger patient involvement in clinical trials, reducing barriers to participation and improving real-world relevance;
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building unified voices across patient organisations, clinicians, and researchers to strengthen advocacy and policy impact.
AOECS welcomes these commitments. Empowering patients and ensuring that they have a clear, independent, and influential voice is fundamental to better health outcomes.
We will continue to collaborate with UEG and other partners to advance these shared goals and promote a healthcare environment where coeliac patients are recognised as co-creators in their own care.
Read UEG's full manifesto here