SAPEA webinar: Are we ready for the next cross-border health crisis? – 8 May 2023, 13.00 – 14.30 (CET)

SAPEA Webinar
Are we ready for the next cross-border health crisis?
8 May 2023 | 13.00 – 14.30 (CET)
Zoom
Recording of the event: here

The European Union was not ready for COVID-19, despite the history of the spread of serious infectious diseases and the presence of special services and road maps. The cost of COVID-19 and its cascading effects is still adding up and may soon exceed 3 trillion euros. The probability of such events to occur is difficult to calculate. This is particularly true for new health threats, since mutations occur completely randomly.

On a global scale, infectious disease epidemics are occurring more often, and spreading faster and further than ever. Threats to public health do not stop at national borders, as shown by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Diseases can spread rapidly across borders through travel, trade in human and animal food, insects and other disease carriers.

What can be done to ensure that Europe is ready for the next pandemic or bioterrorism threat? How can we effectively set up strategic crisis management, including foresight and risk monitoring in the public health sector? What are the gaps in coordination and unclear competences at different governance levels, and how can they be solved? Is the ‘one health’ approach the right path for Europe? Are there any good examples we can learn from?

Speakers: 

• Simo Nikkari – SAPEA Working Group on Strategic Crisis Management in the EU
• Marija Jevtic – Serbian Academy of Medical Sciences, Co-Chair of the FEAM One Health subcommittee on environment
• Sara Cerdas – MEP, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
• Thomas Hofmann – Head of Section, Emergency Preparedness and Response Support, Public Health, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control)
• Anne Simon – Head of Unit, HERA Emergency Office, DG HERA
• Dr Sylvie Briand, Director, Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention Department at WHO

Three recently published reports will give the impulse to this conversation:

• SAPEA Evidence Review Report “Strategic crisis management in the EU”
• Scientific opinion from the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors to the European Commission “Strategic crisis management in the EU”.
• Statement from the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies “Values in times of crisis: Strategic crisis management in the EU”.

Who should attend?

This free webinar will be organised as a fishbowl interactive discussion and is for academics, policy-makers of all levels, public health and crisis management practitioners, civil society and private sector representatives.