European Commission proposes a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, July 2003

Living in a world where the risk of a bio-terrorist attack is ever present and where communicable diseases travel faster than ever before, as illustrated by the SARS epidemic earlier this year, the European Commission has adopted a proposal for a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control with the aim of providing a more co-ordinated and better managed response to global health threats.

In the European Union where millions of people cross internal and external borders on a daily basis, communicable diseases pose a significant threat to the health and well being of European citizens as they do not respect national frontiers. Recognising this problem, the European Union realised in the late 1990s that the only way to tackle these threats was through co-ordinated preventative and control measures. As a result, the European Commission established a Communicable Diseases Network in 1999 based on ad hoc cooperation between Member States within the legal framework of Council and Parliament Decision 2119/98/EC.

However, the heightened risk of a terrorist attack following the events of 11 September 2001 and the speed with which the SARS epidemic spread around the globe highlighted to the European Commission the need for a substantial reinforcement of this system if the European Union is to be in a position to control communicable diseases effectively. Since 2000, two external evaluations of the EU's Communicable Diseases Network have been carried out, highlighting how the functioning of existing structures could be improved and identifying options for a more effective response capacity at the EU level. In 2002, the State Epidemiologists from the Member States gave their view on the future of the surveillance of communicable diseases at the European Union level and favoured the creation of an EU-level centre.

The proposal, adopted on 23 July 2003, seeks to establish such a centre, which would be known as the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The main aim of the centre would be to serve as a co-ordination point for all the national centres in the Member States. Under the existing system, when there is an emergency, the relevant Member States will inform the network and outline its plan of action, then another Member State would notify the network of what they plan to do and so on. This means that whilst Member States might separately decide to take the same course of action, time is lost in the process. With the ECDC the European Commission hopes to provide a rapid and effective EU-wide response by providing authoritative scientific advice on serious health threats, recommending control measures and allowing quick mobilisation of intervention teams. The centre will have six core tasks:

• Epidemiological surveillance and laboratory networking - to harmonise surveillance methodologies, to increase the comparability and compatibility of the surveillance data collected, to maintain networks of reference laboratories and to enhance the quality assurance schemes of microbiological laboratories.

• Early Warning and Response - experts will be on hand around the clock to provide advice on alerts although the responsibility for acting on these will remain with Member States and the European Commission

• Scientific opinions - the centre will contribute scientific assessments and technical support to public health policies, based on the excellence of its in-house scientific expertise and that of its networks of experts in the Member States.

• Technical Assistance - the ECDC will provide an EU team of inspectors to investigate outbreaks where necessary

• Preparedness against health emergencies - the wealth of expertise brought together under the ECDC will be used to support the development of EU level preparedness planning for health crises, such as an influenza pandemic or a bioterrorist attack

• Communicating on health threats - the ECDC will communicate about its activities and results to both the general European public and decision-makers in the EU's Member States

Similar to the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the EU centre would become operational by 2005 with a staff of about 800 people, compared to the 8,000 personnel employed by the US body. The centre would have a relatively low budget - €10 million increasing to €20 million in the longer term - reflecting the small scale nature of the operation, which is mainly about pooling Member States' expertise. However, David Byrne, the European Commissioner for Public Health, was keen to emphasise the importance of the proposal, saying:

'If communicable diseases do not respect national borders, then neither should preventive and control measures. SARS was a 'wake-up call' for Europe to get better prepared and to substantially enforce cooperation at an EU-level. In today's Europe, where millions of people cross national borders each day, we need rapid, coordinated action at EU-level to protect our citizens. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control will make this possible. By pooling Europe's scientific expertise and reinforcing our rapid alert systems the ECDC will help the EU and its Member States to respond more quickly and effectively to disease outbreaks to be better prepared against epidemics and bioterrorist attacks.'

The European Vaccine Manufacturers group (EVM) has welcomed the European Commission's initiative. Didier Hoch, the President of EVM said,

'In the light of ever-increasing population mobility, EU enlargement and continuous environmental changes, such a Centre should help Europe to become better prepared to deal with health threats. The recurrence of diseases like TB, the rise of antibiotic resistant pathogens, the deliberate release of biological agents and threats of pandemic diseases, are all issues that will require a European centre working in close collaboration with Member States, WHO and third countries'.

The proposal will now be submitted to the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament for agreement under the co-decision procedure.

Links:
European Commission:
	23.07.03:	Press Release: Strengthening Europe's defences against health threats: Commission proposes European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control [IP/03/1091]
	23.07.03:	Memo: Communicable diseases - European networks [MEMO/03/155]
	DG Health: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
	DG Health: Communicable diseases networks
BBC News Online:
	23.07.03:	EU plan to fight diseases
European Vaccine Manufacturers:
	Homepage
	23.07.03:	EVM welcomes Commission initiative to create a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
	EVM views on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
European Sources Online: In Focus
	SARS - Byrne calls for European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, April 2003
European Sources Online: Topic Guides
	The European Union and Public Health

Helen Bower

Compiled: Thursday, 24 July 2003

The European Commission adopted a proposal on 23 July 2003 for a European Centre for Diesease Prevention and Control with the aim of providing a more co-ordinated and better managed response to global health threats.