The European Tuberculosis Surveillance Network aims to maintain and further develop surveillance activities and thereby contribute to the international progress both in the TB epidemiology and laboratory fields.
Since January 2008 ECDC and WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/EURO) have jointly assumed the coordination of surveillance activities. ECDC and WHO/EURO continue to assure a rewarding exchange of information and expertise among members of the network.
Any information which the network members wish to disseminate throughout this network can now be sent to tuberculosis@ecdc.europa.eu. Similarly any comments and suggestions on the network development should be posted to this email-address.
The Network is a continuation of the former EuroTB
Between 1996 and 2007, European tuberculosis surveillance programme (EURO TB), hosted by the Institut de Veille Sanitaire in France, coordinated the surveillance of tuberculosis in the 53 countries of the WHO European Region. In its capacity as WHO Collaborating Centre for the surveillance of tuberculosis in Europe, EuroTB worked closely with WHO/EURO and WHO/HQ in the collection and validation of data for the WHO Global Tuberculosis Control Report.
From January 2008 onwards ECDC and WHO/EURO jointly assumed the coordination of the activities of EuroTB. ECDC and WHO/EURO agreed how to share the tasks of managing all the data sent in by the whole network of 53 Member States, including the activities involved in the collection, validation, analysis and dissemination of information and other tasks related to surveillance and monitoring of tuberculosis.
SURVEILLANCE ACTIVITIES
Surveillance is a basic component in the control and elimination of tuberculosis (TB) in Europe, and is one of the key areas of the Framework Action Plan to Fight TB in the European Union (EU). By achieving a complete and reliable overview of the TB situation in the EU/EEA, strengths and remaining challenges in TB control may be identified.
One of the main outputs from this data collection is the ECDC/WHO-EURO joint annual surveillance report for Europe, which presents the previous year’s notification data. Based on the key findings of the Annual surveillance report as well as the discussions during the Annual surveillance meeting of the Network, and consulting with the Network’s Coordination Group, priorities in TB surveillance as well as prevention and control are identified for the EU/EEA as well as the entire European Region.
Annual TB surveillance
Efforts in TB surveillance by ECDC and the WHO/EURO aim to ensure high-quality, standardised TB data that cover all aspects of TB control, in all 53 countries of the WHO European Region and Liechtenstein.
Sharing the collection, validation, analysis and dissemination of data, are continuous activities within TB surveillance and lead to the publication of the Annual TB Surveillance Report. It presents the key findings on TB trends and an overview of the TB situation in the entire Region.
How are data collected?
Countries report to one entry point but the data from the EU and EEA network members are integrated into the European Surveillance System (TESSy), while that of the non-EU network members are integrated into the WHO/EURO CISID. Both systems then validate the data and ensure easy data sharing and exchange between both organizations to produce a joint output. Such a process avoids double reporting for TB.
National surveillance institutes from each Member State in the WHO European Region and Liechtenstein are designated for collecting surveillance data for that Member State. These institutes are responsible for providing the TB data for their country and reporting them through a joint database common for the entire European Region:
- The data from the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries are validated and processed by The European Surveillance System (TESSy) in Stockholm.
- Data from all other countries are validated and processed by the Centralized Information System for Infectious Diseases (CISID) in Copenhagen.
- Earlier, data presented in the surveillance report were collected and analysed by the former ‘EuroTB’ project for TB surveillance activities in Europe (1996 to 2007). These are now available at the ECDC website.
How are surveillance strategies and actions identified?
Annual TB surveillance meeting
Annual TB surveillance meetings are held following the launch of the Surveillance Report to discuss TB surveillance issues — a unique opportunity to make decisions on future developments and activities of the entire network.
Coordination Group for TB Surveillance
European TB surveillance activities are guided by a group of designated TB surveillance experts called the Coordination Group for TB Surveillance. The group consists of ten experts in national TB surveillance, seven of which are experts in TB epidemiology and three serve in TB laboratory functions. Six of the members represent EU/EEA Member States and four represent the remaining countries in the European Region.
The key role of the Coordination Group is to discuss and present suggestions and proposals to ECDC and the WHO/EUROon technical, epidemiological and other scientific aspects of TB surveillance. The ultimate goal is to further develop the TB surveillance network to improve its effectiveness. The members act as independent experts.