Brussels, 16/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - The informal EU health ministers' meeting closed in Nicosia on 11 July with a discussion on protecting against infectious diseases. According to ministers, coordination mechanisms need to be strengthened to help improve communication and assess cross-border transmission risks accurately and swiftly, right from the beginning of the crisis. Cypriot Minister for Health Stavros Malas declared that, “member states expressed their willingness to intensify their efforts towards the development and implementation of risk assessment and communication strategies, effective enough to protect the citizens of the Union, with the support of the European Commission and in close collaboration with the WHO”.
Ministers called on the health security committee, which is coordinating health security efforts to enhance cooperation in this area, to strengthen cooperation in this domain. They also said that it was necessary to improve communication links between the European Commission, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other European agencies (the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the European Food Safety Agency and the European Medicines Agency) and encouraged civil society and different stakeholders such as healthcare professionals to cooperate throughout the whole communication process. They also underlined how important it was to integrate traditional communication channels and social media into their overall communication plans. (IL/transl.fl)