ECDC participation at the annual European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG)

The overall theme of this year’s Forum is "Health systems in crisis - countering shockwaves and fatigue". 

For over a decade, ECDC has been actively organising sessions and workshops at the Forum within the area of infectious diseases and public health. In this year’s interactive session, ECDC will explore the role of strategic foresight in public health, with the aim to provide participants with a concise overview of the theory and practice of strategic foresight and its integration into organisations’ structures and processes. Participants will also be introduced to some of the existing drivers of infectious diseases such as inequalities in access to healthcare, migration and travel, climate change and the dangers of antimicrobial resistance. We will look at how these underlying drivers may develop in the future, influence each other, and shape possible futures. These possible future scenarios will then be discussed further in breakout sessions.

Speakers include:

• Aaron Rosa, Researcher, Competence Center Foresight of the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI)
• Henk Hilderink, Expert Public Health Foresight, Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)
• Margaux Mathis, Technical Officer, Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention Department within the WHO Health Emergencies Programme
• Maria Guevara, International Medical Secretary, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
• Gerjon Ikink, Principal Expert Public Health Foresight and Determinants, ECDC

Moderator: Andrea Ammon, ECDC Director

Andrea Ammon will also participate in other events and activities during the 4-day Forum on topics mainly focussing on health systems capacity building and health policy leadership.