Technical cooperation with Western Balkans and Türkiye - latest updates
ECDC is supporting the Western Balkans and Türkiye with the strengthening of their infectious disease prevention and control systems and public health workforce in order to prepare for their future participation in ECDC work. Read about the latest updates of this project.
Hepatitis B and C Network meeting
ECDC hosted the annual Hepatitis B and C Network meeting in Stockholm on 14–15 March 2023. Five designated hepatitis experts from Albania, Kosovo , Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia attended the meeting as observers.
The aim of the meeting was to enable the sharing of experiences and best practices between EU/EEA Member States and observers from EU enlargement countries. The focus was on key priorities, such as surveillance, prevalence, testing and monitoring.
Participants reviewed different systems for understanding the hepatitis B and C epidemics across the EU/EEA region, and the progress made so far towards the elimination of these diseases. The discussion also touched upon the priorities in the future for the eradication of hepatitis, ECDC’s role in achieving this target, opportunities to scale up testing, and how to reduce the undiagnosed fraction in the population.
Workshop on Preparedness and Response to West Nile Virus
A workshop dedicated to strengthening preparedness and response to the West Niles Virus (WNV) infection based on the One-Health approach was organised by ECDC, under the EU Initiative on Health Security, on 22–24 March 2023 in Rome, Italy.
The workshop brought together 44 participants from European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) partner countries, EU enlargement countries, and selected EU Member States. 11 experts from national public health authorities in Western Balkans and Türkiye participated in the workshop.
The objective was to discuss the lessons learned from past WNV infection outbreaks, based on after-action reviews, and assess the extent to which these have been implemented into concrete WNV management strategies.
The workshop focused on participating countries sharing their experiences in managing WNV infection events, and closely scrutinising the WNV management processes. This included the challenges and successes in implementing improvements to the WNV management strategies and identifying the key needs going forward.
ECDC country mission on surveillance to North Macedonia
On 3 and 4 May 2023, upon the invitation from the Institute for Public Health of the Republic of North Macedonia, the ECDC team of four experts travelled to Skopje on a country mission.
The aim of the visit was to identify areas in the surveillance of communicable diseases where further work and possibly ECDC support would be required, in order to implement the EU acquis on serious cross-border health threats and related ECDC standards and practices.
ECDC experts reviewed the national surveillance system, identified its strengths, vulnerabilities, and needs. They discussed with the public health authorities of North Macedonia about their observations and recommendations to strengthen system description, data collection, data quality, management, analysis, dissemination of communicable disease data, outbreak detection, and system capacity.
The outcome of the discussions will help ECDC to tailor its support for further strengthening North Macedonia’s surveillance operations.
Annual meeting of the National Focal Points for Surveillance
The annual ECDC meeting of the National Focal Points for Surveillance took place on 23–24 May 2023 at the ECDC premises in Stockholm, Sweden. The meeting primarily targeted representatives from EU/EEA countries with five Observer NFP for Surveillance from TAlbania, Kosovo , Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia joining the discussions.
The discussions focused on the development of surveillance systems to be funded by the 2023 EU4Health programme, the implementation of the new ECDC mandate, and the expected implementing acts of Regulation (EU) 2022/2371 on surveillance.
ECDC Summer School
On 23–25 May 2023, six designated experts from the Western Balkans attended the 2023 edition of the ECDC Summer School entitled, ‘Preventing infectious diseases by informing policy: the role of advocacy, and social and behavioural sciences’ in Stockholm, Sweden.
The meeting provided the participants with an opportunity to explore the importance of social and behavioural sciences at the level, and to discuss the challenges and opportunities of establishing effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of behavioural interventions. The participants had the opportunity to share their experiences and techniques on advocacy in their respective countries. Ways to further develop advocacy work were also discussed.
Non-pharmaceutical interventions Expert Consultation meeting
In order to promote the coordination of approaches to non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) across the European Union and further discussions, ECDC organised the second expert consultation meeting from 24–25 May in Stockholm, Sweden.
The meeting aimed to provide input to the draft ECDC guidance document on key public health considerations in the implementation of NPIs in community settings against respiratory disease outbreaks.
Six designated experts from the Western Balkans and Türkiye attended the two-day meeting, which also brought together the ECDC National Focal Points for Preparedness and Threat Detection, selected epidemiologists, mathematical modellers, social and behavioural scientists, and ECDC staff.
The meeting provided an excellent opportunity to bridge stakeholders responsible for implementing NPIs in country settings during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a selected multi-disciplinary expert group.
Background
In 2022, ECDC hosted the first Expert Consultation on implementing and evaluating non-pharmaceutical interventions. Based on the findings from that meeting, ECDC developed the structure for a guidance document. This meeting provided an opportunity to receive insightful feedback to the structure and contents of the draft ECDC document.
ECDC and WHO/Europe Joint Annual Influenza and COVID-19 Surveillance Meeting
Thirteen experts from the Western Balkans and Türkiye attended the Joint Annual Influenza and COVID-19 Surveillance Meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 31 May–2 June 2023.
The main aim of the meeting, which was jointly organised by ECDC and the WHO Regional Office for Europe, was to discuss technical and operational issues related to COVID-19 and influenza surveillance, virology, risk assessment and response in Europe.
Participants reviewed global, regional, and country experiences in relation to the epidemiology and virology of SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus in 2022/23. They also discussed the achievements and challenges faced by countries in establishing and adapting integrated epidemiological and virological surveillance systems for SARS-CoV-2, influenza and other respiratory infections. The participants also shared evidence on how epidemiological and virological surveillance data on COVID-19, influenza and other respiratory infections can be further strengthened.
ECDC Annual STI Network meeting
On 28–29 June ECDC hosted the 2023 edition of the annual sexually transmitted infection (STI) Network meeting in Stockholm, Sweden. The meeting brought together public health professionals from EU/EEA, and five epidemiology and microbiology experts from Albania, Kosovo , Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.
During the meeting, ECDC staff updated the participants on the current activities of the agency and the future ECDC work programme, which is based on the country representatives’ experiences on advances in STI surveillance, prevention, and control policies.
Background
The ECDC STI Network is comprised of the Operational Contact Points (OCPs) for STI epidemiology and microbiology and the National Focal Points (NFPs) for HIV/STI/hepatitis B/C from EU/EEA countries.