EU EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: Cross-border and cross-sectoral crisis management of mosquito-borne diseases IN North-West Europe

On March 20-21, a two-day North-West EU Event will take place in Antwerp, Belgium, with a focus on mosquito-borne diseases alongside cross-border and cross-sectoral crisis management. This event is a 2-days Exchange Visit, and will be attended by 40-50 experts from Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in interactive sessions around emergency preparedness, thus exchanging experiences and gaining valuable insights.

The aim of the event is to strengthen cross-border and multi-sectoral collaboration for serious cross-border threats to health in the North-West EU region, to build competencies for stronger cross-border and cross-sectoral collaboration by improved prevention, preparedness and response planning, and to nurture a growing Community of Practice (CoP) network.

This event is part of the EPIC11 project, which aims to develop a contextualised and relevant training programme that responds to the needs of health specialists and addresses the current gaps in EU and EEA countries in relation to emergency preparedness planning. EPIC11 is commissioned by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) and implemented by a consortium made up of GFA consulting group GmbH (DE), KIT Royal Tropical Institute (NL), and Think Modular (AU).

Preliminary programmes of both days can be found on this webpage.

During the Exchange Visit, the five participating countries will present and discuss challenges, opportunities and best practices in prevention, detection and response to mosquito-borne diseases. Specific outcomes of Day 1 are:

• Clarified coordination and collaboration mechanisms;
• Better aligned prevention, preparedness and response plans for serious cross-border threats to health in region;
• Strengthened cross-border and regional collaboration and building of networks; and
• Mobilising the Community of Practice for contributing to the Training Programme Development, and identifying potential master trainers.

Day 2 will be based on a set of interactive, case-based learning sessions on cross-border and cross-sectoral collaboration around mosquito-borne diseases (specifically around those transmitted by the Aedes mosquito). Learning outcomes and competencies built are:

• Increased knowledge of cross-border and cross-sectoral outbreak management;
• Improved skills in policy & governance, vector control strategies, information sharing and communication;
• Tested methodologies in outbreak management in collaboration with counterparts from neighbouring countries;
• Better clarity on preparedness and response plans in the neighbouring countries; and
• Enhanced trust across countries that enables collaboration, communication and information-sharing.