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Public Health
News announcement6 December 2022Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority

Global Health: HERA and WHO Hub strengthen cooperation on pandemic and epidemic countermeasures

The Commission's Health Emergency and Preparedness Response Authority (HERA) and the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence agreed to strengthen cooperation on countermeasures to prevent, prepare, detect, and rapidly respond to serious cross-border threats to health. This follows the presentation of the EU's Global Health Strategy and the agreement between the Commission and the WHO to reinforce cooperation to tackle global health threats.

Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, said: “Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have learned how important it is for all key players to work together to be better prepared and ready to respond fast to health emergencies. Under the new Global Health Strategy, the EU will be working to support a new global health order to better tackle health threat heads on. The cooperation between HERA and WHO Hub will contribute to reinforcing global health security through a stronger EU and international engagement on medical countermeasures.”

HERA and the WHO Hub will work together under the umbrella of reinforced cooperation under the European Health Union, such as the implementation of the regulation on serious cross-border health threats and the extended ECDC mandate. They will involve each other when developing work plans and research roadmaps, to better consider the respective agendas and overall research and development of advanced medical countermeasures and related technologies.

The agreement between HERA and the WHO Hub is laid down in an Administrative Arrangement that is operational for five years from the date of its signature. It will be inserted in the broader cooperation to combat health threats that the Commission and the WHO agreed to reinforce.

See the Administrative Agreement here

(For more information: Stefan De Keersmaecker – Tel.: +32 2 298 46 80; Célia Dejond – Tel.: +32 2 298 81 99)

Details

Publication date
6 December 2022
Author
Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority