Last October, Theresa May initiated plans to implement an Opt-out system in the UK with a view to increasing the availability of organs for people in need of a transplant. Already in place in some EU countries (Belgium, France, Spain, etc.), the system relies on presumed consent from the deceased...
It has been about a year since a new law on organ donation from deceased persons was passed in France, in an effort to boost donation numbers in the country. Although presumed consent was already in place in France prior to 2017, donation would not take place unless accepted by...
Launch of a Call-to-Action on the EU Health Policy Platform Brussels, 27th of November – The European Chronic Disease Alliance, presided over by EKHA Chairman Professor Raymond Vanholder, has launched policy recommendations to increase employment opportunities for the one in four Europeans of working age who suffer from a chronic condition....
Work Programme 2018-2020 and funding opportunities The multi-annual work programme for 2018-2020 in Horizon 2020, the EU’s research funding instrument, has now been published. This is the final cycle of the Horizon 2020 programme. With the principle of research for better health for all at its core, Horizon 2020’s Societal Challenge 1 (SC1)...
The European Kidney Forum is planned for the 21st of March 2018 The Forum will be held in the European Parliament under the auspices of the MEP Group for Kidney Health and explore the topic of Increased Access to Kidney Transplantation. Best practice in organ donation and transplantation across Member States...
Theresa May found clear words in favour of a change in the system. Both, the UK government and the opposition positioned themselves recently in favour of a move towards a system of presumed consent on organ donation, as we find in most European countries. At the Tory Party conference early October, the...
With triggering Article 50, a lot of questions are raised regarding British people seeking healthcare in another EU country, or EU citizens being treated in the UK. Currently European citizens benefit from reciprocal healthcare rights when they are in any of the 28 EU Member States, according to Regulation (EC)...
The Republic of Ireland is following the example of France whose new opt-out system for organ donation came into effect earlier this year. There are today only a few countries left in the EU which have an opt-in system: Germany, United Kingdom (with the exception of Wales) and the Netherlands. Irish...
After breaking its record in 2014 and 2015, Spain again improved its annual number of organs transplanted, reaching the impressive amount of 4,818 transplants in 2016. 2,994 of them were kidney transplants, as reported by the Organización Nacional de Trasplantes (ONT). In terms of organ donation, there were 43.4 organ...
After taking over from Malta at the beginning of July, it is now Estonia’s turn to lead the Council of the European Union until the end of 2017. Estonia included tackling the harmful use of alcohol to reduce alcohol-related harm in the EU as one of the top health priorities...
European Kidney Health Alliance
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers).
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs. There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out via contact form.
