Preliminary findings from the first cycle of Public Health Emergency Preparedness Assessments – Interim report

As part of the first cycle of Public Health Emergency Preparedness Assessments, ECDC conducted country visits to Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden between May 2024 and September 2025. For these assessments, the four in-depth capacities common to all countries were ‘Laboratory’, ‘Surveillance’, ‘Health Emergency Management’ and ‘Antimicrobial resistance and healthcare-associated infections’. The fifth capacity that was most often selected by these countries for an in-depth assessment was ‘Zoonotic diseases and threats of environmental origin, including those due to the climate’. 

This interim report summarises the main findings of these first 15 ECDC assessment reports, based on a preliminary analysis of these five selected capacities. While there are clear differences in countries’ contexts and levels of preparedness and response capacity, the assessments have also revealed numerous common strengths and challenges across many countries. These shared patterns are reflected in the findings presented in this report. With this in mind, the findings do not aim to provide a comprehensive overview of prevention, preparedness and response planning across the EU/EEA but to share a selection of the most frequently observed, critical or illustrative activities.