ECDC Director attended the 72nd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe

On this occasion, she was invited to deliver a keynote address during the session on “Strengthening health emergency preparedness, response and resilience: learning the lessons and building back better”. In her address, Andrea Ammon presented ECDC's perspective on the recent health emergencies in the EU/EEA, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the health crisis in Ukraine, and the monkeypox outbreak.  

The Director has also been invited to attend a special session, a closed ministerial lunch, on resetting the course towards ending tuberculosis and AIDS, and eliminating the epidemics of viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections. The aim of this session was to attest political commitment before the adoption of the regional action plans, including setting the pace ahead of a subregional ministerial meeting and the United Nations High-level meeting of the General Assembly on the fight against tuberculosis in 2023. 

Furthermore, during her visit to Tel Aviv, Andrea Ammon met with Nachman Ash, General Director of the Israel Ministry of Health, and Israeli counterparts to discuss the potential renewal of the Administrative Agreement between ECDC and Israel CDC, which expired on 21 June this year.  

 Finally, the European and International Cooperation section has now finalised an internal consultation on the Memorandum of Understanding with WHO Europe, to be shared with this organisation by the end of the week. The document outlines matters of mutual interest on which the two institutions can collaborate strategically and will replace the existing Administrative Arrangement that was concluded between the parties on 25 March 2011.