European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

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European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
ECDC logo.svg
ECDC-2018.jpg
ECDC headquarters in Solna, Sweden
Centre overview
Formed28 September 2004 (2004-09-28)
Jurisdiction European Union
Headquarters Solna Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden
59°22′22″N18°1′2″E / 59.37278°N 18.01722°E / 59.37278; 18.01722
Annual budget€57 million EUR (2020) [1]
Centre executive
Key document
Website ecdc.europa.eu

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is an agency of the European Union (EU) whose mission is to strengthen Europe's defences against infectious diseases. [2] It covers a wide spectrum of activities, such as: surveillance, epidemic intelligence, response, scientific advice, microbiology, preparedness, public health training, international relations, health communication, and the scientific journal Eurosurveillance . [3] The centre was established in 2004 and is headquartered in Solna, Sweden.

Contents

History and operations

Former seat of ECDC in Tomtebodaskolan, Solna ECDC Tomtebodaskolan 2005-09-02.jpg
Former seat of ECDC in Tomtebodaskolan, Solna

As EU economic integration and open frontiers increased, cooperation on public health issues became more important. While the idea of creating a European centre for disease control had been discussed previously by public health experts, the 2003 SARS outbreak and the rapid spread of SARS across country borders confirmed the urgency of the creation of an EU-wide institution for public health. ECDC was set up in record time for an EU agency: the European Commission presented draft legislation in July 2003; by the spring of 2004, Regulation (EC) 851/2004 had been passed, and in May 2005 the Centre became operational. The relevance of the centre's mission was confirmed shortly after it began operating, when the arrival of H5N1 avian influenza in the EU's neighbourhood led to fears that the disease could adapt or mutate into a pandemic strain of human influenza.[ citation needed ] The Centre moved to its current location at Gustav III:s Boulevard 40, 16973 Solna, Sweden, on 3 March 2018.

The ECDC manages key initiatives that focus on surveillance and response support, and public health capacity and communication,[ citation needed ] while the office of the Chief Scientist oversees the Microbiology Coordination Section and the Scientific Advice Coordination Section, along with seven Disease Programmes.[ citation needed ]

The Disease Programmes focus on specific disease groups:[ citation needed ]

Publications

ECDC publishes numerous scientific and technical reports covering various issues related to the prevention and control of communicable diseases. Comprehensive reports from key technical and scientific meetings are also produced by the organization.[ citation needed ]

Towards the end of every calendar year, ECDC publishes its Annual Epidemiological Report, which analyses surveillance data and infectious disease threats. As well as offering an overview of the public health situation in the European Union, the report offers an indication of where further public health action may be required in order to reduce the burden caused by communicable diseases.[ citation needed ]

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control is monitoring the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. [4]

Other ECDC publications include disease-specific surveillance reports and threat reports, as well as analyses of trends in European public health.[ citation needed ]

Eurosurveillance

Eurosurveillance , a European peer-reviewed journal devoted to the epidemiology, surveillance, prevention and control of infectious diseases, has been published by ECDC since March 2007. The journal was founded in 1995 and, before its move to ECDC, was a collaborative project between the European Commission, the Institut de Veille Sanitaire (France) and the Health Protection Agency (United Kingdom). Eurosurveillance is an open-access (i.e. free) web-based journal that reports infectious disease issues from a European perspective. It publishes results from ECDC and the EU-funded surveillance networks, thereby providing the scientific community with timely access to new information. The journal is published every Thursday.[ citation needed ]

Member states

In addition to the member states of the union, three members of the European Economic Area also participate in the ECDC network: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway. [5]

The United Kingdom benefited from the ECDC during the Brexit transition period from February 1 to December 31, 2020.[ citation needed ]

COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, involved in the European Union response to the COVID-19 pandemic the ECDC published data related to COVID-19 such as number of people affected in the European Union.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

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"EWRS is a web-based system linking the Commission, the public health authorities in Member States responsible for measures to control communicable diseases and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). EEA countries are also linked to the system."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oseltamivir</span> Antiviral medication used against influenza A and influenza B

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Influenza vaccine</span> Vaccine against influenza

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disease surveillance</span> Monitoring spread of disease to establish patterns of progression

Disease surveillance is an epidemiological practice by which the spread of disease is monitored in order to establish patterns of progression. The main role of disease surveillance is to predict, observe, and minimize the harm caused by outbreak, epidemic, and pandemic situations, as well as increase knowledge about which factors contribute to such circumstances. A key part of modern disease surveillance is the practice of disease case reporting.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Field epidemiology</span>

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Eurosurveillance is an open-access medical journal covering epidemiology, surveillance, prevention, and control of communicable diseases with a focus on topics relevant for Europe. The journal is a non-profit publication and is published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Koch Institute</span> German government agency responsible for disease control and prevention

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The Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, until 2014 known as the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers, is a directorate-general of the European Commission. The DG is responsible for the monitoring and implementation of European Union policies and laws on health and food safety. It is headed by European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides and Director-General Sandra Gallina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Centre for Disease Control</span> Indian medical health government agency

The National Centre for Disease Control is an institute under the Indian Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It was established in July 1963 for research in epidemiology and control of communicable diseases and to reorganize the activities of the Malaria Institute of India. It has nine branches at Alwar, Bengaluru, Trivandrum, Calicut, Coonoor, Jagdalpur, Patna, Rajahmundry and Varanasi to advise the respective state governments on public health. The headquarters are in Sham Nath Marg, in New Delhi.

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health is responsible for maintaining and revising the list of notifiable diseases in Norway and participates in the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization's surveillance of infectious diseases. The notifiable diseases are classified into Group A, Group B and Group C diseases, depending on the procedure for reporting the disease.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) is part of Ireland's Health Service Executive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Union response to the COVID-19 pandemic</span> Responses to the ongoing COVID-19 viral pandemic in the European Union

The COVID-19 pandemic and its spread in Europe has had significant effects on some major EU members countries and on European Union institutions, especially in the areas of finance, civil liberties, and relations between member states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea Ammon</span> German physician

Andrea Ammon is a German physician and the current director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), a European Union (EU) agency strengthening Europe's defence against infectious disease. She advised the German government on the SARS and Influenza A virus subtype H2N2 outbreaks.

Sergio Brusin is the former Principal Expert Response and Emergency Operations at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. He developed the ECDC infectious disease risk assessment methodology that is used by ECDC and other public health institutions in assessing the risk posed by communicable disease events. He advocated for far fewer travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic recommending to concentrate the response efforts to stricter domestic control measures strongly enforced.

References

Citations

  1. "ECDC financial documents". www.ecdc.europa.eu. Retrieved 2022-10-04.
  2. "ECDC mission statement". www.ecdc.europa.eu. Archived from the original on 2009-11-04.
  3. "About ECDC". European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (www.ecdc.europa.eu). Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  4. "Rapid Risk Assessment: Severe respiratory disease associated with a novel coronavirus" (PDF). European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. 2013-02-19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-02-19. Retrieved 2013-05-25.
  5. "Competent Bodies". European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Retrieved 2022-04-13.

Sources