With broad public health and communication expertise, the work of the Public Health Capacity and Communication Unit aims at strengthening European capacities, knowledge and cooperation in communicable diseases prevention and control, in a way that is complementary to the disease-specific activities of the Centre.

The work to achieve these aims is carried out in three sections:

Public Health Development: Providing expertise and support to Member States, stakeholders and other ECDC programmes in the areas of communication knowledge, behaviour change, programme evaluation, social determinants, health economy and preparedness in order to prevent and control communicable diseases. The work is based on a solid understanding of the public health structures in Europe.

Public Health Training: Strengthening public health capacities in Europe through coordinating the EPIET and EUPHEM programmes, providing short courses and programmes for training the trainers and continuing education of experts. Strengthening training networks and progressively implementing innovative methods and tools for teaching.

External Communication: Efficiently communicating ECDC scientific and technical knowledge to promote public health. Raising awareness of the impact of communicable diseases and the importance of their prevention and control.