On this website we present information about activities past and present of EACH.

EACH - European Association for Children in Hospital - is the umbrella organisation for member associations involved in the welfare of all children before, during or after a hospital stay.

From 1961 onwards, voluntary associations for the welfare of children in hospital were set up in many European countries. In 1988 twelve of these associations held the first European conference in Leiden in the Netherlands. At this conference a list of ten points was drawn up that describes the rights of children in hospital.

In 1993 the European Association for Children in Hospital – EACH – was established to help realise this list of rights, since known as the EACH Charter.

In 2001 more detailed explanations were added to the EACH Charter in the form of the Annotations. Although the Charter was and is influential in transforming pattern of care in the hospitals, much remains to be done.

At present 13 national associations are members of EACH. 5 Associations are associated members.

Member associations of EACH nominate one delegate from each nation to a Co-ordinating Committee which operates as the executive body of EACH and undertakes all planning and decision making in relation to the activities of EACH.

The Committee appoints from amongst its delegates a co-ordinator who has the function of a general secretary. General assemblies in the form of European Conferences are open to non-member associations and individuals, who share a common interest in the aims and goals of EACH.