European Children's Hospitals Organisation
Budget
€171,375
EP Access
0
accredited persons
Staff
3
2.5 FTE
EU Grants
€9,375
Mission & Goals
ECHO's Vision: ECHO’s vision is to be a united voice of children’s hospitals promoting children’s rights, holistic care for patients, professional excelence, and frienship among people of different countries. ECHO' Mission: ECHO’s mission is to “advocate for children’s health and their access to the best quality care through the collaborative work of its members.” ECHO is grounded in the belief that we are stronger together and that the future of healthcare lies in teamwork and collective action. An active network of children’s hospitals is essential for addressing the health challenges facing children and young people in Europe today. By bringing large tertiary care paediatric hospitals together, ECHO aims at establishing the pan-national infrastructure required to collect the data required to guide the decisions to improve access, quality and efficiency of care. Another factor that lead to the formation of ECHO was the recognition that that children’s hospitals play (...)
EU Legislative Interests
The following EU initiatives are currently being followed by ECHO: Horizon Europe; European Reference Networks; Strategy on medicines for children and rare diseases; Cross-border healthcare; Digital Europe; EU4Health; Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HERA): European Health Data Space (EHDS); MFF
Communication Activities
Current publications and communications include: 1. Joint statement with other organisations representing children's hospitals on the rights of children and calling for more investment in child health. This statement can be accessed here: https://www.echohospitals.org/sites/default/files/imce/Global%20statement%20for%20kids-long-revised.pdf 2. Toolkit on implementing a rights-based approach to care in hospital: https://www.echohospitals.org/sites/default/files/imce/ECHO%20Child%20Rights%20Toolkit%20Final%20Compressed.pdf 3. On World Environment Day 2020, ECHO released Children's Hospitals Green Promise, charting the course for sustainable children’s hospitals of the future. https://www.echohospitals.org/sites/default/files/imce/Children's%20hospitals%20green%20promise%20final.pdf 4. Safeguarding children's right to health in hospital during COVID-19, Lancet Child & Adolescent Health 2020 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(20)30300-X/fulltext 5. Towards a Healthy Life Course for All - The importance of children’s hospitals in creating a healthier Europe, https://www.echohospitals.org/sites/default/files/imce/ECHO%20Positioning%20Statement%20Final%20Dissemination.pdf 6. A call to action: children's hospitals, child health, and the climate crisis, Lancet Child & Adolescent Health 2021 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(21)00269-8/fulltext 7. ECHO Statement on Ukraine: https://www.echohospitals.org/sites/default/files/imce/ECHO%20statement%20on%20Ukraine%20March%202022.pdf 8. Leading the Way in Europe: Innovation in children's nursing. A joint symposium by the European Children’s Hospitals Organisation Nursing Working Group and the Senior Children’s Nurses Network of Ireland. May 10, 2022. 9. Supported the development and implementation of the Rare Diseases Hub Ukraine. This application connects patients from Ukraine with a rare disease with organizations and hospitals, members of the European Reference Network (ERN), with the aim to provide the specialized medical support they may need during this emergency. https://rarediseaseshub4ua.org/ 10. A letter was sent to MEPs from ECHO member countries asking them to support the research needs of children and young people. 11. Issued report in 2025: NURSING WORKFORCE IN EUROPEAN CHILDREN’S HOSPITALS https://www.echohospitals.org/sites/default/files/imce/echo_nursing_workforce_report_2025_compressed.pdf 12. Signed onto statement calling for European Commission to strengthen role of early-stage research and innovation funding in FP10. https://www.eua.eu/news/eua-news/research-organisations-call-for-eu-to-preserve-early-stage-collaborative-r-i-in-the-next-framework-programme.html?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-linkedin-11-07-2025 13. ECHO supported the Resolution on Rare Diseases at the 78th World Health Assembly (WHA78). 14. ECHO leads the Communication, Dissemination, and Exploitation work package for PHEMS (phems.eu), organizing a series of online events called "Meet-Ups" bringing together a range of stakeholders to learn about the PHEMS project and become part of the PHEMS community. 15. We have social media profiles on X: @ECHOhospitals and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/echo-european-childrens-hospitals-organisation
Interests Represented
Does not represent commercial interests
Member Of
EPACT – The AlliancE for the digitalisation of hosPitAls medication management pathways: https://ehma.org/projects/epact/ Semana JIM: https://www.semanajim.com.mx/
Organisation Members
https://www.echohospitals.org/members
Additional Information
Additional 22,000 as an affiliated, but not official, partner in a Horizon Europe grant together with Foundation Sant Joan de Deú
Commissioner Meetings
No recorded meetings with EU commissioners.