ECDC conducts country visit to Türkiye to discuss surveillance of communicable diseases
On 7–8 April 2025, a technical team from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) visited Türkiye to assess the country’s communicable diseases surveillance system. The aim of the visit was to better understand the national surveillance system and identify areas for further development in line with the EU acquis on serious cross-border health threats and ECDC standards and practices.
Over two days, the ECDC team reviewed Türkiye’s national surveillance infrastructure and. engaged with national experts from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Discussions focused on aspects such as data collection, quality, management, and the dissemination of surveillance data in order to identify actionable steps to enhance the effectiveness of Türkiye’s communicable disease surveillance activities. The EU delegation to Türkiye and the World Health Organization country office in Ankara also participated and contributed with insights to support a comprehensive understanding of current initiatives and planned improvements to the national surveillance system.
The visit concluded with a debriefing session, where the ECDC team shared their observations and recommendations, emphasising ways to strengthen Türkiye’s public health surveillance capabilities, and highlighting areas where ECDC support could be valuable.
This visit was the final in a series of country visits to the Western Balkans and Türkiye, carried out under a project funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood , under the Instrument of Pre-Accession Assistance.
