Background
This workshop is conducted by the Emergency Preparedness Integrated Courses (EPIC11) project developing an EU preparedness training programme for EU Member States and EEA countries. EPIC11 is funded by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) and assisted by DG SANTE in “EU preparedness: analysis, planning, reporting and training programmes for health specialists”. EPIC11 contributes to implementing the EU Regulation on Serious Cross-Border Threats to Health (SCBTH). It contributes to strengthening Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPR) with targeted training and knowledge exchange activities for healthcare and public health staff (Art.11 SCBTH).
EPIC11 is developing a contextualised and relevant training programme that responds to the needs of health specialists and addresses the current gaps relation to PPR in all EU Member States and 3 EEA countries. EPIC11 is implemented by a consortium led by GFA Consulting Group GmbH (DE), KIT Royal Tropical Institute (NL), and Think Modular (AT).
Our vision is to respond better to future public health emergencies, within and across countries.
The training programme will support 27 EU Member States and 3 EEA countries to
- build knowledge & skills for more resilient prevention, preparedness, and response planning for personnel working in all hazard and threat administration and agencies, as well as
- smoothen communication & coordination within countries and between countries.
The training programme is founded on the diversity of national systems and focussing on a
- multi-hazard approach to health threats in a
- cross-sectoral and international setting
- addressing serious cross-border threats to health.
The EPIC11 training programme will be complementary to training managed by ECDC, WHO and others.
Workshop Concept
Aims and objectives in Malta
The workshop is part of the EPIC11 training programme development process providing opportunities to:
- Learn more about the implementation of the new Health Security Framework (HSF);
- Reflect on national results in the Training Needs Assessment (TNA) framework assessment; and
- Discuss and tailor national PPR planning.
Specifically, the Malta national workshop aims to:
- Build knowledge and capacity to develop a comprehensive generic PPR plan from a multi-stakeholder perspective, covering the most common threats
- Strengthen coordination and collaboration among all personnel and departments involved in PPR planning in Malta for VBD and CBRN threats.
- To identify gaps, challenges and opportunities in developing and implementing a generic PPR plan, as well as PPR plans for vector-borne diseases (VBD, focus on Dengue, West Nile virus) and Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN, focus on chemical) threats.
- To identify, discuss, and clarify unclear, missing or overlapping roles and responsibilities amongst different stakeholders
- To prioritise, develop and agree on next steps in the form of a clear action plan and road map.
Date and location
This 3-day workshop will be held from 3rd to 5th September 2024, at the Malta Marriot Resort.
Workshop format
The workshop will consist of presentations from external experts, case studies and plenary sessions with interactive discussions involving all participants and moderated small working group sessions to further improve the knowledge and skills related to PPR planning (Generic – Day 1, VBD – Day 2, and CBRN – Day 3).
Day 1 – General PPR planning: The focus for day 1 will be on acquiring knowledge and skills relevant to developing a generic National PPR plan. There will be 5 main sessions throughout the day. The first session will provide a platform to discuss the upcoming ECDC assessment in Malta in November, what to expect and clarifications for the Malta team on any areas where this is desirable. What generic PPR planning entails will be presented during this session. A case study country will be used to concretise and and elaborate on generic PPR planning.
The draft Malta plan will be then be presented and discussed in the light of learning from the previous sessions.
Participants will be divided in groups to identify and sicuss opportunities for improving the Malta plan. The last session will focus on developing action plans and a roadmap for finalizing the Malta PPR plan.
Day 2 – VBD PPR planning: The focus for day 2 will be on acquiring knowledge and skills for developing a feasible VBD PPR plan using the scenario of Dengue and West nile virus outbreak. Five sessions are planned, starting with an overview of the VBD landscape in Europe. This will be followed by a country case study, preferably with actual experience with VBD control to make it relevant for the Malta team. Next is a laboratory presentation highlighting the basic and confirmatory testing procedures and the reference labs to notify.
The basic components of a VBD PPR plan will be shared. The draft VBD PPR plan for Malta will be discussed to identify opportunities for improvement. Finally, a roadmap with an action plan will be developed to guide the finalization of the Malta VBD PPR plan.
Day 3 – CBRN PPR planning: The focus for day 3 will be on CBRN PPR planning with an emphasis on chemical threats. The aim is to acquire knowledge and skills relevant to VBD PPR planning.
Participants
An average of 20 national participants are expected daily including stakeholders from different ministries, departments and agencies involved in PPR planning such as ministries of health, communication, education, trade & international relations, agriculture, public health institutes, heads of tertiary hospitals, units of civil protection, police, or armed forces, and policymakers.
Due to country size and limited human resources, each workshop day will have a different composition of participants relevant to the topic discussed.
Participants on day 1: 25 participants are expected. Participants will include experts from primary care, secondary care and laboratory, ministries, departments, and agencies involved in preparedness and response to any threat of public health magnitude such as health, agriculture, education, environment, and defense.
Participants on day 2: 20 participants are expected to attend, including staff from the veterinary service, environmental service and infectious diseases.
Participants on day 3: 25 participants are expected to attend in a mix like the first day.
Participants for each day of the workshop will receive an invitation to attend from the Head of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Unit, Ministry for Health and Ageing of Malta.
All participants can register with EPIC11 https://epic11.eu/epic11-national-workshop-malta
The workshop will be organised in English.
Preparatory materials
- International Health Regulation (IHR) States Parties Self-Assessment Annual Report (SPAR) 2023 for Malta
- Joint External Evaluation (JEE) report 2023 for Malta
- Participants are requested to contribute existing PPR plans per department and units.
Outcomes
The discussion around PPR planning for the most common threats in Malta will identify training needs and contribute to the EU comprehensive training programme, one final output of EPIC11: A modular training offer for Malta. Relevant outcomes of the workshop for participants are:
An overview of challenges and opportunities for developing a comprehensive PPR plan involving different stakeholders in Malta;
- Strengthening cooperation between relevant stakeholders and responsible departments.
- Improvement of coordination and collaboration between different stakeholders in times of crises through integrated PPR planning
- Improved coordination and collaboration between Malta and the EU PPR planning; and
- Improved preparation for the assessment under article 8 and JEE EU Regulation 2022/2371 on serious cross-border threats to health (September 3 – 5, 2024).
Evaluation
The national workshop will be evaluated using a post-workshop survey.
The overall vision is to respond better to future public health emergencies, within and across countries.