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International Federation of Anthroposophic Medical Associations

IVAA

IVAA (International Federation of Anthroposophic Medical Associations) represents and coordinates the national anthroposophic doctors' associations on both the European and international levels in regard to political and legal affairs.

Lobbying Activity

Response to EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – EU funding for civil protection, preparedness and response to crises

7 Nov 2025

IVAA, endorsing EUROCAM response: EUROCAM firmly believes that health research should encompass Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Health (TCIH) approaches, which contribute to improving prevention, resilience, and sustainability. TCIH describes a wide range of provider-based and self-care practices and modalities, some of which have been used for centuries around the world. Evidence-based TCIH research aligns with various EU priorities including public health, sustainability, competitiveness and social inclusion. Building up the knowledge base of its holistic perspective is critical at a time characterised by high complexity and economic and social volatility, and geopolitical uncertainty. TCIH can be a tool for crisis preparedness, offering cost-effective, preventive, and low-risk methodologies and techniques. These contribute to strengthening resilience at the health system, societal and individual level (e.g., by fostering physical and mental health and wellbeing), and to tackling persistent health challenges such as antimicrobial resistance or the burden caused by chronic diseases. Closely aligned with the One Health approach, TCIH encourages the responsible use of finite resources and adoption of healthy lifestyles; it understands that human, animal and environmental health are interdependent, linked through channels such as food production, waste and residues from healthcare operations and pharmaceutical manufacturing, international trade and mobility. TCIH research holds added value for achieving Europes climate goals, preserving natural resources and biodiversity, and transitioning to a zero-emission economy. TCIH innovation harbours significant potential to boost the creation and design of new products and services in domains including natural and green products, integrative care models, healthy ageing, and digital health (including harnessing the potential of data-powered Artificial Intelligence solutions), thereby supporting SMEs, expanding culturally sensitive care options, and contributing to job creation in the health and bioeconomy sectors. The sectors relevance and expertise is increasingly being recognised, with the interest of a substantial part of the EU population. The WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 20252034 confirms the potential of TCIH to support conventional medicine and more comprehensively support peoples health and well-being needs. For these reasons, EUROCAM proposes the inclusion of a dedicated funding line or work stream stimulating TCIH research within the Health, Biotech, Agriculture and Bioeconomy area of the European Competitiveness Fund and/or Horizon Europe. TCIH-related research in national and regional partnership plans under the new MFF must be encouraged, especially in health promotion, preventive and community health. TCIH research offers high societal value for low investment. Earmarking R&I funding for this area would enhance person-centred, innovative, and sustainable healthcare systems across Europe. It would enable European citizens, patients and healthcare professionals to access and benefit from a wealth of untapped knowledge ready to be put into practice.
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Meeting with Catarina Martins (Member of the European Parliament)

19 Feb 2025 · Global Health Strategy

Meeting with Aurelijus Veryga (Member of the European Parliament)

14 Jan 2025 · The Role of Anthroposophic and Integrative Medicine in Advancing the Global Health Strategy

Response to Evaluation and revision of the general pharmaceutical legislation

7 Nov 2023

As with other integrative medical systems, Anthroposophic Medicine is based on a holistic approach; it merges conventional and complementary medicine and it includes all dimensions of the patient: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual, as well as the impact of a person's environment and social context. Anthroposophic medical doctors are qualified physicians who have received additional training to integrate Anthroposophic Medicine into their conventional practices. Like other complementary medicinal products, anthroposophic medicinal products (AMPs) have a long tradition of medical use. Many studies have shown that anthroposophic treatments have few adverse effects, can be combined easily with conventional medicines in an integrative approach and are, in many cases, cheaper than most conventional medicines in the treatment of chronic diseases. AMPs have an outstanding safety and high-quality record, improve the quality of life of patients and are recognized as medicinal products in several countries. Important production centers are in the EU, that allow for AMPs to reach patients all over the Union and beyond and set quality and safety standards to produce AMPs. In addition, AMPs have a negligible environmental impact, thus contributing to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, coherently with the European Green Deal. IVAAs feedback on the EU Revision of the EU general pharmaceuticals legislation: - IVAA welcomes the Commissions proposal to maintain the existing provisions for homeopathic and traditional herbal medicinal products; - However, IVAA regrets that the category of AMPs, namely AMPs described in an official pharmacopoeia and prepared by a homeopathic method, are not explicitly mentioned in the current draft legislation. IVAA would therefore welcome confirmation that this medicinal product category now referred to in preamble 22 of Directive 2001/83/EC is also covered by preamble 4 of the draft legislation.
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Response to Recommendation for strengthened actions against antimicrobial resistance

24 Mar 2022

The International Federation of Anthroposophic Medical Associations (IVAA) welcomes and supports the European Commission’s call for evidence for a recommendation on greater actions to tackle Antimicrobial Resistance. We are pleased to see the efforts for the uptake of already existing best practices and the involvement of stakeholders to reinforce priorities at EU level in the fight against AMR. The integrative medical healthcare makes use of the best available complementary therapies and medicines, by integrating them into mainstream healthcare in order to achieve improved health outcomes. Anthroposophic Medicine, like other Integrative Medicines, prioritizes disease prevention and health promotion, and tackles infectious diseases through diverse multidisciplinary non-antibiotic therapeutic options. By strengthening patient’s health resilience, Anthroposophic Medicine helps avoid both the mis- and overuse of antibiotics in humans and animals, the major drivers for antimicrobial resistance in the EU. As highlighted in the good-practices collection published by the EU AMR Stakeholder Network (March 2022), treatments of common infectious diseases based on Integrative Medicine methods are low-cost, safe, and effective instruments (1). E.g., the integrative P.E.A.N.U.T method can lower the need for antibiotic treatments to as much as 17.9% of Chronic Otitis Media with Effusion (COME) and Adenoid Hypertrophy (AH) in childhood compared to patients treated with conventional interventions (82.9%). Further studies on Integrative Medicine show similar outcomes. In a retrospective study on the use of antibiotics in children hospitalised with pneumonia in the Filderklinik, a hospital in Germany that integrates conventional with Anthroposophic Medicine, only 32% of children required antibiotics, much lower than rates reported in the scientific literature (88-98%). Safety and outcomes were excellent in the study (2). App-based registries (FeverApp and FeverFriend app) collecting data on febrile infections show that effective and permissive fever management strategies significantly reduce the antipyretic and antibiotic use (3). The uptake of preventive and management tools offered by integrative treatments, inclusive of anthroposophic medical therapies, extend the range of available instruments for healthcare professionals to tackle AMR. Additionally to that, they can give a significant contribution to infections prevention and management strategies. Further efforts should focus on patient information and healthcare education, thereby widening the knowledge about prevention and treatment options that include multidisciplinary Integrative treatments, along with Anthroposophic Medicine interventions. Anthroposophic approaches are also applied in veterinary medicine and biodynamic farming, ensuring high animal welfare standards with health-oriented livestock management, as a One Health approach. We therefore encourage the further inclusion of preventive and management measures offered by integrative modalities, including Anthroposophic Medicine, as promising options in health policies and National Action Plans to prevent AMR and reduce antibiotic use. Further information and recommendations are available in our position paper published in 2021. https://bit.ly/3umI6vv (1) https://epha.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/amr-goodpracticesreport-2022.pdf (2) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876382019306390 (3) https://www.feverapp.de/en/research/press-release-publications; https://feverfriend.eu/app
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Response to Evaluation and revision of the general pharmaceutical legislation

27 Apr 2021

IVAA welcomes the patient-centered approach of the Revision, as well as the environmental perspective, in order to ensure the supply of safe and affordable medicines to meet patients’ needs in the EU. Like other complementary medicinal products, anthroposophic medicinal products (AMPs) have a long tradition of medical use. Many studies have shown that anthroposophic treatments have few adverse effects, can be combined easily with conventional medicines in an integrative approach and are, in many cases, cheaper than most conventional medicines in the treatment of chronic diseases. AMPs have an outstanding safety and high-quality record, improve the quality of life of patients and are recognized as medicinal product in several countries. Besides, IVAA strongly supports the focus put on the environmental impact of pharmaceuticals. There is growing evidence that the anthroposophic medical approach, including AMPs, increases both patient satisfaction and overall health outcomes, and that can contribute to overcoming current EU health challenges, such as antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and environmental pollution. Studies show that the anthroposophic approach involves lower prescription rates of antimicrobials even when patients do become infected;1,2 and that AMPs could be offered as an option in case of simple infections1. AMPs have a negligible environmental impact, thus contributing to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, coherently with the European Green Deal. IVAA welcomes the regulatory and administrative simplification to ensure greater access and availability of pharmaceuticals, including AMPs, to patients. At the same time, IVAA recognizes that the EU institutions have created an appropriate legal framework that allows the millions of users of Complementary Medicinal products, including some AMPs, to access the medicine of their choice, guaranteeing its safety and high quality; therefore, the review of the EU pharmaceutical legislation should continue to recognize the importance of patients’ choice and shall not hinder the access to the market of the established medicines. As with other integrative medicines, Anthroposophic Medicine is based on a holistic approach; it merges conventional and complementary medicine and it includes all dimensions of the patient: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual, as well as the impact of a person's environment and social context. Anthroposophic medical doctors are qualified physicians who have received additional training to integrate Anthroposophic Medicine into their conventional practices. References: 1. Hamre HJ, Fischer M, Heger M, et al. Anthroposophic vs. conventional therapy of acute respiratory and ear infections: a prospective outcomes study. Wien Klin Wochenschr 2005; 117(7-8): 256-268. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-005-0344-9 2. Jeschke E, Luke C, Ostermann T, Tabali M, Hubner J, Matthes H. Prescribing practices in the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections in anthroposophic medicine. Forsch Komplementärmed 2007; 14(4): 207-215. https://doi.org/10.1159/000104171
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Response to A European Health Data Space

3 Feb 2021

The International Federation of Anthroposophic Medical Associations (IVAA) welcomes this initiative and the effort by the Commission to coordinate health data collection. We believe this will improve efficiency and efficacity of healthcare and health research across the EU. IVAA also appreciates the accent put on the citizen’s rights in the area of health, and in controlling and accessing their data, which will empower them and allow for better delivery of health care, including cross-border health care; we also appreciate the accent put on cost-effectiveness of health care and on prevention strategies. Anthroposophic physicians integrate conventional and Anthroposophic Medicine. As fully trained medical doctors, they are embedded in the national health systems, with many of them contributing the health research in national, European and international projects; therefore, IVAA is pleased to see any improvement in the data collection mechanisms that will put the basis for better outcomes of national health systems and provide a wider availability of data for health research. As integrative anthroposophic doctors, we call on the European Institutions to: 1) Ensure that integrative medical approaches, such as Anthroposophic Medicine, Homeopathy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurvedic Medicine, are included in any data collection initiative in order to better assess their contribution to the improvement of health outcomes in the EU. Two positive examples of this are: - the Lean European Open Survey on SARS-CoV‑2 infected patients (LEOSS), a data collection initiative to better understand the implications of Covid-19 on patients by systematically documenting patient data (https://leoss.net); - The Fever App (https://www.feverapp.de/en/), a fever monitoring tool, co-developed by the associations of pediatric and adolescent physicians, supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The app provides parents with scientifically sound information to safely accompany their child in the event of fever and aim at reducing overuse of antipyretics, antibiotics and healthcare providers. 2) Ensure that data collection is anonymous, in order to ensure a wider response by health practitioners and a collection of information that is as close to the reality as possible. 3) Collect data that will also support health promotion policies, and not only disease–centred ones. We look forward to contribution to the upcoming public consultation on this topic and we are available for any additional information.
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Response to Pharmaceutical Strategy - Timely patient access to affordable medicines

3 Jul 2020

As with other integrative medicines, anthroposophic medicine is based on a holistic approach; it merges conventional and complementary medicine and it includes all dimensions of the patient: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual, as well as the impact of a person's environment and social context. Anthroposophic medical doctors are qualified physicians who have received additional training to integrate anthroposophic medicine into their conventional practices. Like other complementary medicinal products, anthroposophic medicinal products (AMPs) have a long tradition of medical use. Many studies have shown that anthroposophic treatments have few adverse effects, can be combined easily with conventional medicines in an integrative approach and are, in many cases, cheaper than most conventional medicines in the treatment of chronic diseases. AMPs have an outstanding safety and high-quality record, improve the quality of life of patients and are recognized as medicinal product in several countries. There is growing evidence that the anthroposophic medical approach, including AMPs, increase both patient satisfaction and overall health outcomes, and that can contribute to overcoming current EU health challenges, such as such as antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Studies show that the anthroposophic approach involves lower prescription rates of antimicrobials even when patients do become infected (1,2) and that AMPs could offer an alternative to antimicrobials in case of simple infections(1) though more research is needed. In addition, AMPs have a negligible environmental impact, thus contributing to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, coherently with the European Green Deal. IVAA’s feedback on the roadmap: • IVAA welcomes the participatory nature of the Roadmap and the patient-centered approach, as well as the environmental perspectives, in order to ensure the supply of safe and affordable medicines to meet patients’ needs in the EU; • The EU institutions have created an appropriate legal framework that allows the millions of users of Complementary Medicinal products, including some AMPs, to access the medicine of their choice, guaranteeing its safety and high quality; therefore, the review of the basic pharmaceutical legislation should continue to recognize the importance of patients’ choice. • IVAA welcomes the regulatory and administrative simplification to ensure greater access and availability of pharmaceuticals, including AMPs, to patients. References: 1. Hamre HJ, Fischer M, Heger M, et al. Anthroposophic vs. conventional therapy of acute respiratory and ear infections: a prospective outcomes study. Wien Klin Wochenschr 2005; 117(7-8): 256-268. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-005-0344-9 2. Jeschke E, Luke C, Ostermann T, Tabali M, Hubner J, Matthes H. Prescribing practices in the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections in anthroposophic medicine. Forsch Komplementärmed 2007; 14(4): 207-215. https://doi.org/10.1159/000104171
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Meeting with Annika Nowak (Cabinet of Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis)

8 Jun 2017 · AMR, Intergrative medicines