The workshop “Detection and assessment of public health threats in the European Union” was part of capacity building component within the ongoing technical cooperation framework for the EU Candidate Countries and Potential Candidates (CC/PC) , ECDC organised a training workshop for public health experts in CC/PCC to support capacity of these countries to participate in the ECDC activities.
Strengthening public health capacities in a diverse European setting has become a major issue in an enlarged European Union. Migration within the Member States and incoming migrants from neighbouring countries is influencing national and regional public health policies. The importance of strengthening and building up new public health capacities in a time of increased migration is going to be discussed at the workshop organised by the ECDC at the 14th European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG).
Objectives: Acquire skills in outbreak investigation methods, planning, establishment and evaluation of surveillance systems, applied research, communication and teaching
The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen (IPSC), issued a report about the ECDC/JRC collaboration on the improvement of MedISys, a web-based tool for epidemic intelligence activities.
During the Informal Meeting of Ministers of Health, 5-6th July, ECDC Director Marc Sprenger gives a speech presenting evidence of health inequalities in the EU, as well as several options for intervention.
European Union countries face the challenge of how to best allocate limited resources in healthcare protection and disease prevention to achieve maximum results. Measurement of the burden of diseases provides important evidence for health policy formulation.
Evaluating health complaints in returning travellers through a sentinel surveillance system does not always reflect the spectrum of health problems that occur during travel. In this paper, the comparison of cohort surveys and sentinel surveillance data is used to better describe the epidemiology of health complaints during and after travel.
In recent years human diseases due to mosquito-borne viruses were increasingly reported in Emilia-Romagna region (Italy), from the chikungunya virus in 2007 to the West Nile virus (WNV) in 2008. An extensive entomological survey was performed in 2009 to establish the presence and distribution of mosquito arboviruses in this region, with particular reference to flaviviruses.
On the occasion of World Hand Hygiene Day, 5th May, ECDC is releasing new web pages dedicated to the Healthcare-associated Infections Surveillance Network (HAI-Net) – a European network for HAI surveillance, coordinated by ECDC.