Single Programming Document 2024-2026

This will not be the last pandemic and EU citizens remain exposed to many other health threats, including those spanning from political or environmental factors, such as the refugee crisis following Russia’s aggression in Ukraine in 2022, or the growing impacts of climate change.

The needs of the EU, the Member States, and their national health systems continue to evolve. Recognising these needs and drawing on the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Commission proposed the creation of a European Health Union, to address the future with stronger crisis preparedness mechanisms. The European Health Union includes a package of new legislation, establishing the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), strengthening the role of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), providing a new Regulation on serious cross-border threats to health, and, most relevant to this document, strengthening the mandate of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

The amended ECDC Founding Regulation adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 24 October 2022 is the first update to ECDC’s mandate since the Centre was created. It complements the provisions put forward in the new Regulation on serious cross-border threats to health and the Emergency Framework Regulation of HERA that were approved by the European Parliament and Council at the same time, completing the European Health Union.

ECDC’s strengthened mandate and the array of unprecedented global challenges to delivering the Centre’s new mission have increased expectations in terms of the tasks and interventions incumbent on ECDC. The amended ECDC Founding Regulation not only sets the legal basis for the activities that became a priority following the COVID-19 outbreak, it also introduces new areas of focus for ECDC interventions.

In particular, the amended ECDC Founding Regulation calls for the Centre to adopt a stronger role in supporting the EU/EEA Member States in the prevention and control of infectious disease threats, and to improve European emergency preparedness and response planning ahead of future public health challenges through:

• epidemiological surveillance via integrated and digitalised systems enabling real-time surveillance, when relevant;
• assessment of the prevention, emergency preparedness and response planning at national level;
• stronger guidance through provision of non-binding science-based recommendations and options for risk management;
• reinforced capacity for modelling and forecasting;
• focus on the monitoring of health system capacity for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment;
• coordination of a network of EU reference laboratories and a network for substances of human origin;
• platform for post-authorisation monitoring of vaccine safety and effectiveness, hosted jointly by EMA and ECDC;
• capacity to mobilise and deploy an EU Health Task Force to assist emergency preparedness and crisis response in Member States;
• fostering ECDC’s contribution to the EU’s international cooperation and commitment to global health security preparedness.

Given the above developments, the focus of the Centre’s work programme in 2024 will be on intensifying support to the European Commission and the EU Member States, with the aim of strengthening their emergency preparedness and response planning. ECDC will prioritise actions to promote further digitalisation of the EU and national surveillance systems, allowing timely monitoring of communicable diseases with less human intervention and collection of data according to common indicators and standardised procedures.

Finally, in 2024 the Centre will focus its efforts on enhancing strategic partnerships to create synergies - e.g. by establishing the EU cross-agency One Health Task Force - and by seeking ways to facilitate better interaction with the Member States to provide them with more targeted support, including through the EU Health Task Force.

With the amended ECDC Founding Regulation entering into force, ECDC’s Strategy 2021−2027 has been reviewed to ensure that the Centre can add value and enhance its impact in line with the new mandate. Changes to the ECDC Strategy 2021−2027 translate the expectations set in the amended ECDC Founding Regulation into refined long-term objectives and aligned areas of action.

ECDC’s multi-annual programming 2024−2026 and its 2024 work programme, presented in this document, build on the structure of the amended ECDC Strategy. In 2024, ECDC will begin pursuing the revised Strategic Objectives and the activities have therefore been planned accordingly. As the updated Strategy is an evolution of the strategic vision and goals that the Centre has been working towards since 2021, many of the ongoing projects and processes will continue, following a review of the strategic priorities, and new activities will be included to support the implementation of the amended mandate.