Brussels, 20/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou met senior officials from EU member state health authorities and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm on Tuesday. At the meeting, Kyprianou called for the EU to do more to combat HIV/AIDS and TB (tuberculosis) and asked the ECDC to ensure comprehensive surveillance of HIV/AIDS across the whole of the EU. The ECDC was set up to detect best virus detection practices across the EU and beyond and to share the information to help improve national programmes to combat specific diseases and report back to the commissioner on progress in areas where governments might need help. Ahead of World Tuberculosis Day on 24 March, Kyprianou urged member states to step up their efforts to combat TB and called on the ECDC to develop an EU action plan to assist them. The Commission-funded EuroTB network will be publishing an annual report on Thursday 22 March showing that TB rates in the EU decreased by 2.5% a year between 2001-2005 but a total of 91,845 new cases of TB were reported in the EU27 in 2005 alone.
During his visit to Stockholm Markos Kyprianou opened the ECDC's new headquarters in a ceremony attended by Swedish Health Minister, Maria Larsson, and Sweden's European Affairs Minister, Cecilia Malmstrom. (ol)