Head of Programme: Prof Angus Nicoll
Deputy Head: Dr Kari Johansen
Programme Officer: Zero Akyol
The programme covers the three groups of influenza affecting humans:
- Seasonal influenza;
- Pandemic viruses;
- Animal influenzas;
as well as other respiratory viruses and related areas such as surveillance, pandemic preparedness & response, prevention, virology and laboratory issues, influenza vaccination and use of antivirals for public health purposes.
The programme works within ECDC's matrix structure by drawing on different areas of expertise from ECDC itself, including:
- Surveillance, virology and epidemiology;
- Animal health and veterinary science;
- Behavioural science and communication;
- Epidemic intelligence;
- Epidemiology;
- Training;
- Health economics;
- Programme monitoring;
- Health planning;
- Pandemic and general preparedness;
- Vaccines and vaccinology including monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness;
- Contributing to safety studies.
This is done with essential contributions from many external experts, public health institutes, academic groups and specialised organizations in the European Union and EEA Member States, and beyond.
In Europe, this includes The European Commission (SANCO & DG Research), the European Parliament and the Council, the WHO Regional office for Europe, the European Vaccine Manufacturers orgnisation, the European Medicines Agency, the European Food Safety Authority and European professional societies like the European Respiratory Society and the European Society for Intensive Care Medicine. The programme works closely with the WHO Regional Office for Europe on influenza. It also works with WHO more generally in areas like pandemic preparedness, global surveillance and influenza vaccines where the lead is with WHO Headquarters in Geneva.
The Programme collaborates with several institutions beyond Europe, including: other national centres of disease control including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Public Health Agency of Canada, China CDC and a number of international scientific bodies, notably the International Society for Influenza and other Respiratory Virus Diseases.
The Declarations of Interest of the ECDC Influenza Programme members are available 
here.
Aims:
The programme aims to support European Bodies and the Member States in the enactment of recent European Council Recommendations and Communications on seasonal influenza immunisation and pandemic preparedness so hence Europe achieves:
- a decrease in the morbidity and mortality that is due to seasonal influenza, especially through increased national and individual use of immunisation and better use of personal health measures;
- improved preparedness for a pandemic at regional (European), European Union, Member State and local level drawing on the guidance from WHO and lessons learnt from the 2009 pandemic;
- a robust scientific base for the mitigation of influenza in Europe, including a balanced and relevant research programme.
A range of activities directed towards achieving these targets are ongoing or have been planned as part of the ECDC multiannual strategic work plan. Specific Objectives and Outputs can be seen in the ECDC annual workplans.
Outputs:
Outputs of the Programme are publicly available on the ECDC website at the relevant health topics. Among others, these include:
ECDC surveillance outputs contribute to WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISN), which ECDC supports enthusiastically.
Readers can also subscribe to the Influenza Digest Mailing List that provides influenza news and disseminates all the scientific and public health outputs of ECDC concerning influenza, by writing to influenza@ecdc.europa.eu.
The programme supports the Member States and the European Commission with information from event based surveillance (Epidemic Intelligence) and indicator-based surveillance.
Extensive epidemiological and public health information, guidance and relevant documents can be found within the influenza dedicated areas on the ECDC website.
Contact:
You can contact the programme by writing to: influenza@ecdc.europa.eu