Background
This National Workshop is part of the Emergency Preparedness Integrated Courses under Article 11 (EPIC11) project, which focuses on the provision of prevention, preparedness and response (PPR) trainings for Serious Cross-Border Threats to Health (SCBTH) in EU Member States and European Economic Area (EEA) countries. The EPIC11 project was formulated in response to the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) and Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) call for tenders on “EU preparedness: analysis, planning, reporting and training pro-grammes for health specialists”. The call builds on the need to implement the new Regulation (EU) 2022/2371 on SCBTH and reinforce PPR planning with targeted training and knowledge exchange activities for healthcare and public health staff (Article 11 – Regulation 2022/2371).
EPIC11 is developing an EU preparedness training programme that responds to the needs of PPR planners, managers and practitioners and addresses the current gaps in relation to PPR planning in all EU Member States and EEA countries. EPIC11 is implemented by a consortium led by GFA Consulting Group GmbH (DE), KIT Royal Tropical Institute (NL), and Think Modular (AT).
The overall project vision is to respond better to future public health emergencies, within and across countries. The EU preparedness training programme will support 27 EU Member States and 3 EEA countries to
- build knowledge and skills for more resilient PPR planning for personnel working in all hazard and threat administration and agencies, as well as
- smoothen communication and coordination within countries and between countries.
The training programme is founded on the diversity of national systems and focuses on a
- multi-hazard approach to health threats in a
- cross-sectoral and
- international setting,
- addressing serious cross-border threats to health.
This EU preparedness training programme will be complementary and build on the existing training programmes developed and managed by ECDC, WHO, EC’s policy departments (DGs), HERA, joint actions, various EU-level projects, universities, training institutes and national institutions.
Aims and objectives
This National Workshop is led and hosted by the Health Inspection Division and Service Emergency Preparedness and Response within the Health Directorate of the Ministry of Health and Social Security in Luxembourg with the support of EPIC11. In response to internal deliberations, the National Workshop will focus on One Health and, specifically, on Highly Pathogen Avian Influenza (HPAI) due to zoonotic avian influenza. This event aims to convene relevant international experts and stakeholders from multiple sectors in Luxembourg to discuss cross-sector collaboration in addressing the risks of HPAI within the country and in adjacent territories. Although Luxembourg has not yet recorded any cases of HPAI, neighbouring Belgium has raised critical questions about cross-border transmission risks and the necessary response strategies for Luxembourg. The presence of migratory birds in Luxembourg adds to the urgency of understanding potential threats and measures to prevent transmission to humans. While there is considerable awareness and activities done within different sectors, there is a need to strengthen coordination and collaboration between different sectors to comply with international obligations regarding surveillance and response within a One Health frame.
The HPAI national workshop will serve as a platform for representatives from different sectors: animal, human, health services, public health, clinical, laboratory, food safety, environment and more to discuss their roles, responsibilities, and ways to collaborate to ensure a strong HPAI PPR focusing on a multisectoral comprehensive end efficient surveillance, data sharing and national one health response. It will facilitate the identification of current gaps and foster collaboration among stakeholders. The aim is to gather insights from all relevant sectors, enabling a comprehensive understanding of the risks and the development of coordinated actions in Luxembourg.
Specifically, we aim to:
- Define the context of HPAI in Luxembourg, identify potential animal reservoirs, assess risk factors for spillover infections between animals and humans, and evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of vaccination strategies.
- Discuss a comprehensive and collaborative surveillance system for HPAI in Luxembourg, assessing existing data collection practices and identifying gaps while defining/discussing the functioning of a multi-sector surveillance system.
- Conduct a SWOT analysis, including missing stakeholder identification, to determine data-sharing opportunities and enhance cross-sector collaboration and communication to improve and implement effective surveillance strategies.
- Develop a roadmap to strengthen surveillance, prevention, and response including preparedness planning, mitigate spillover infection risks, and engage stakeholders and the general population to raise awareness about HPAI.
The objectives and methodology of the National Workshop were extensively discussed and endorsed by the host organisation. The aims, programme and methodology, including terminology used in this document, reflect the preferences of the host organisation.