Brussels, 07/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - In two separate documents on Monday 7 December, health ministers and the European Commission expressed the same view: EU member states must improve their preparedness and response plans against serious cross-border health threats.
The ministers' conclusions focus on the lessons to be drawn from the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which claimed the lives of 11,000 people, including 500 health workers. The conclusions call on the member states and the Commission to improve cross-sectoral cooperation, strengthen assessment and management of serious cross-border threats to health, provide protection and training for health workers, define the EU's medical evacuation capacity, ensure medical and public health assistance within the framework of European emergency response capability, improve the EU's preparedness and response planning in the context of global health security and improve risk- and crisis-related communication. These conclusions use the results of the conference organised jointly by the Commission and the Luxembourg Presidency in October 2015 as their basis.
On the same day, the Commission published a report showing that Decision No 1082/2013/EU on serious cross-border threats to health had helped mitigate the effects of Ebola. “The established mechanisms and structures, namely the EWRS, the epidemiological surveillance network, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and the Health Security Committee (HSC) have proven to operate effectively and up to the quality level required in case of a serious cross-border threat to health”, starts the report. It also reports, however, that there is “scope for improving the implementation of provisions (of the decision) whereby member states are to coordinate their national responses”. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)