On Friday 24 July, the European Commission concluded a contribution agreement worth more than €4 million with the World Health Organization’s Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, based in Berlin.
Funded by the EU4Health programme, this support is intended to improve global preparedness for health crises, threat surveillance and the sharing of data needed for a rapid response.
The agreement sets out three actions. First, the Commission will transmit daily analyses on health threats and medical countermeasures to the EIOS system, which is used in more than 125 countries and by more than 30 organisations for the early detection of risks. The funding will then support the WHO Collaboratory collaboration platform, which facilitates the analysis and modelling of health crises and is currently contributing to the response to Ebola.
Lastly, it will contribute to the development of a decision-support simulator designed to guide public decision-makers during a pandemic.
According to the European Commission’s press release, the aim is to confirm the European Union’s commitment to health surveillance based on data and scientific knowledge. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)