In a concerted effort to combat healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the Belgian EU Presidency on 6-7 May co-hosted a conference at the national public health institute of Belgium, Sciensano, in Brussels.
ECDC has developed a new framework for the prevention of infectious diseases, which is based on social and behavioural sciences, health promotion, health literacy and health education, and which provides an extra focus on socio-economic risk factors.
The Annual Epidemiological Reports (AERs) are a key ECDC publication on the epidemiology of communicable diseases of public health significance in Europe.
Additional cases of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), a potentially life threatening tick-borne viral disease, have been reported in the EU/EEA, according to new data published by ECDC. Experts have warned of an increased risk of transmission on the continent.
ECDC cooperates with international partners, such as the World Health Organization and the centres for disease control and prevention (CDCs) across the globe.
ECDC also cooperates with EU candidate countries, potential candidate countries, and European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) countries.
ECDC regularly assesses new evidence on variants detected through epidemic intelligence, rules-based genomic variant screening or other scientific sources.
In the context of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) conference of the Belgian EU presidency, with ECDC as one of the organisers, the Director participated in the high-level meeting ‘An EU Health Emergency’ in Brussels.