Single programming document 2020–2022

2020 will be a year of preparation for the future, after 2019, being a year of transformation, with the election of a new European Parliament, a new European Commission and the preparation for the Brexit, all having a major influence on ECDC.

In 2020, ECDC will set the ground for the implementation of its long-term strategy 2021-2027, address the recommendations stemming from its third five-year independent external evaluation, and embark on two major transversal projects that will shape ECDC and Member States’ future in the area of communicable diseases. These are based on feedback received during the Annual meeting of the Directors of the ECDC Coordinating Competent Bodies in April 2018.

The two projects for which ECDC will dedicate efforts from 2020 onwards aim at pulling together sets of planned or new activities and resources in a structured way across the Centre to achieve greater impact and break internal silos. They will be coordinated centrally, to avoid discrepancies or redundancies and to optimise the efficiency and impact of ECDC, in coordination with the European Commission, Member States and other ECDC partners.

These projects are:

• ECDC Foresight: ECDC will develop an Integrated ECDC ‘Foresight’ Study for the detection and identification of threats from emerging infectious diseases, in order to prepare for the future. By identifying risks from emerging infectious diseases, taking into account a vast range of factors and determinants, intervention strategies can be devised and technologies can be deployed to reduce the risk to public health. Based on forecasting, ECDC could provide options for prevention and control of communicable diseases in the EU and in Member States for decision makers to consider.
• E-health in the area of communicable diseases: With the proliferation of new IT technologies, there are new opportunities to effectively tackle the spread of communicable diseases and to provide effective and qualitative responses to new threats in shorter time. Based on its unique experience in managing and analysing cross-border public health data, ECDC will explore the challenges and opportunities offered by these new technologies in order to facilitate the exchange and consolidation, in real time, of data for infectious diseases that need to be understandable and interoperable.

ECDC will also continue working on a number of other important priorities. These include in particular, addressing antimicrobial resistance and promoting the prudent use of antibiotics in a ‘One Health’ spirit, addressing vaccine hesitancy in Europe; further supporting the European Commission and Member States in strengthening the preparedness and response for cross-border health threats; and addressing the Sustainable Development Goals in the area of HIV, TB and hepatitis.

More than ever in 2020 and beyond, ECDC will continue to work to improve lives in Europe and globally in close cooperation with its partners.