Global Health: HERA and the Republic of Korea strengthen cooperation on preparedness and response to cross border health threats

The Commission's Health Emergency and Preparedness Response Authority (HERA) and the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Republic of Korea (MOHW) agreed to strengthen cooperation in their joint efforts to address prevention, preparedness and response to serious cross border health threats in the area of medical countermeasures.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the need for international cooperation and for all key players to work together, through coordination, communication and exchange of information, to prevent, detect and respond to public health emergencies and to tackle serious cross-border health threats head on.

HERA and MOHW will strengthen cooperation in:

• epidemic and supply chain intelligence
• testing, tracing and detecting tools to identify potential spread of pathogens 
• research, innovation and production of medical countermeasures (including vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics)
• Stockpiling, preparedness for public health emergencies in relation to medical countermeasures
• sharing technical experiences in data science and modelling

The agreement between HERA and the MOHW is laid down in an Administrative Arrangement that is operational for five years from the date of its signature. Throughout this time, cooperation will continue through discussion of current issues and exchange of information and non-personal data, as well as technical cooperation aimed at providing advice and training and collaborative initiatives to build capacity with third country partners.

• See the administrative agreement