Single programming document 2024-2026.
Date: 2024-02-27
Institutions: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
Subjects: EU Member State, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, antimicrobial resistance, coronavirus disease, digital transformation, disease prevention, e-Health, health control, infectious disease, knowledge transfer, report, risk management, staff

ECDC CORPORATE

Single Programming Document 

2024−2026

www.ecdc.europa.eu

ECDC CORPORATE 

Single Programming Document 

2024−2026 

 
 
Suggested citation: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Single Programming Document 
2024−2026. Stockholm: ECDC; 2024. 

Stockholm, January 2024 

ISBN 978-92-9498-686-3 
doi: 10.2900/093774 
Catalogue number TQ-09-24-031-EN-N 

© European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 2024 

Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged 

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Single Programming Document 2024−2026 

Contents 
Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................................... iv 
Foreword ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 
Background ................................................................................................................................................... 4 
Mission statement .......................................................................................................................................... 5 
ECDC Vision .................................................................................................................................................. 5 
1. General context ......................................................................................................................................... 6 
  ECDC priorities for 2024 ............................................................................................................................. 7 
2. Multi-annual programming 2024-2026 ........................................................................................................ 10 
2.1 Multiannual work programme 2024-2026 .............................................................................................. 10 
2.2 Indicators of the multiannual programme 2024-2026 ............................................................................. 22 
2.3 Human and financial resources – outlook for the years 2024-2026 .......................................................... 23 
2.3.1 Overview of the past and current situation ..................................................................................................... 23 
2.3.2 Outlook for the years 2024-2026 .................................................................................................................... 23 
2.3.3 Resource programming for the years 2024-2026 ............................................................................................ 24 
2.3.4 Strategy for achieving efficiency gains ............................................................................................................ 24 
3. Work Programme 2024 ............................................................................................................................. 25 
3.1 Executive summary ............................................................................................................................ 25 
3.2 Activities ............................................................................................................................................ 26 
Strategic Objective 1: Maintain the independence and rigour of scientific processes and strengthen the relevance and 
accessibility of scientific outputs to support public health policies and practices at national and EU levels ................. 26 
Strategic Objective 2: Provide relevant, reliable and timely information and science-based recommendations to 
enable evidence-informed decision-making at national and EU levels ...................................................................... 32 
Strategic Objective 3: Support the development of plans, systems, and capacities for prevention, emergency 
preparedness and control of communicable diseases and related special health issues at national and EU levels ..... 39 
Strategic Objective 4: Streamline coordination and collaboration with Member States, and other ECDC key partners  
in the EU and globally ............................................................................................................................................. 45 
Strategic Objective 5: Create an acknowledged, agile organisation through efficient systems, structures, processes 
and skilled staff ....................................................................................................................................................... 49 
Annex 1. Organisational chart 2024 ............................................................................................................... 57 
Annex 2. Resource allocation per Activity 2024−2026 ...................................................................................... 58 
Annex 3: Financial Resources (Tables) 2024−2026 ......................................................................................... 59 
Annex 4. Human Resources (quantitative) ...................................................................................................... 63 
Annex 5. Human Resources (qualitative) ........................................................................................................ 69 
Annex 6. Environment management .............................................................................................................. 77 
Annex 7. Building policy................................................................................................................................ 78 
Annex 8. Privileges and immunities ................................................................................................................ 79 
Annex 9. Evaluations .................................................................................................................................... 80 
Annex 10. Strategy for the organisational management and internal control systems ......................................... 82 
Annex 11. Plan for procurements 2024 .......................................................................................................... 86 
Annex 12. Plan for grants, contribution, or service-level agreements ................................................................ 87 
Annex 13. Strategy for cooperation with third countries and international organisations ..................................... 90 

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Abbreviations 

ABAC 

Accrual-Based Accounting - the European Commission integrated budgetary and accounting system 

ABB 

ABC 

AD 

AF 

AMR 

AMC 

AMS 

Activity-Based Budgeting 

Activity-Based Costing 

Administrator function group 

Advisory Forum 

Antimicrobial resistance 

Antimicrobial consumption 

Antimicrobial stewardship 

APHEA 

Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation 

ASPHER 

Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region 

AST 

BSI 

Assistant function group 

Bloodstream infections 

BREEAM 

Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method 

CA 

CAAR 

CCB 

CDC 

CDTR 

Contract agent 

Consolidated Annual Activity Report 

Coordinating Competent Body 

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention 

Communicable disease threats reports 

COVID-19 

Coronavirus disease 2019 

CPD 

ECDC Continuous Professional Development 

DG ECHO 

Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations 

DG INTPA 

Directorate-General for International Partnerships 

DG NEAR 

Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations 

DG RI/RTD  Directorate-General for Research and Innovation 

DG SANTE 

Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety 

E3 

EA 

European Environment and Epidemiology Network 

Enterprise Architecture 

EAAD 

European Antibiotic Awareness Day 

EACCME 

European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education 

EARS-Net 

European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network  

ECED 

EDQM 

EEA 

ECDC Candidate Expert Directory 

European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare  

European Environment Agency 

EEA/EFTA  

European Economic Area/European Free Trade Association 

EEAS 

EFGS 

EFSA  

EHDS 

EHFG 

EHRC 

European External Action Service 

European Federation Gateway Service 

European Food Safety Authority 

European Health Data Space 

European Health Forum Gastein 

European Humanitarian Response Capacity 

ELDSNet 

European Legionnaires’ Disease Surveillance Network 

European Medicines Agency 

EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme 

European Medical Corps 

European Neighbourhood Policy 

Committee on the Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety of the European Parliament 

Emergency Operations Centre 

EMA  

EMAS 

EMC 

ENP  

ENVI 

EOC  

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EPHESUS  

Evaluation of European Union/European Economic Area public health surveillance systems 

EPIET  

Epidemiology Path of the ECDC Fellowship Programme 

EpiPulse 

European Surveillance Portal for Infectious Diseases 

EQA  

External quality assessment 

ERVISS 

European Respiratory Virus Surveillance Summary 

ESAC-Net 

European Surveillance of Antimicrobial Consumption Network  

ESCAIDE  

European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology 

ESF 

EU  

European Social Fund 

European Union 

EU-ANSA 

EU Agencies Network on Scientific Advice 

EUDA 

EUHTF 

EU Drugs Agency (formerly EMCDDA) 

EU Health Task Force 

EULabCap 

EU Laboratory Capability Monitoring System 

EUPHA 

European Public Health Association 

EUPHEM  

Public Health Microbiology Path of the ECDC Fellowship Programme 

Euro-GASP 

European Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme 

EVA 

EVD  

EVIP 

EVIS 

ECDC Virtual Academy 

Emerging and vector-borne diseases 

EU Vaccination Information Portal 

European Vaccination Information System 

EWRS  

Early Warning and Response System 

FAO 

FG 

FTE 

Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations 

Function Group 

Full-time equivalent 

FWD  

Food- and waterborne diseases and zoonoses 

FWD-Net 

European Food- and Waterborne Diseases and zoonoses network 

GOARN 

HaDEA 

HAI  

WHO Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network 

European Health and Digital Executive Agency 

Healthcare-associated infection 

HAI-Net  

Healthcare-Associated Infections Surveillance Network 

HERA 

HIV  

HSC 

European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority 

Human immunodeficiency virus 

Health Security Committee 

IANPHI 

International Association of National Public Health Institutes 

ICF 

ICT  

IHR 

IMF 

INB 

IPA 

IPC 

IRIS 

IRV  

Internal Control Framework 

Information and Communication Technology 

International Health Regulations 

Integrated Management Framework 

Intergovernmental Negotiating Body 

Instrument of Pre-Accession Assistance 

Infection prevention and control 

Issue-Resources-Impact-Solidarity - decision-making and prioritisation tool 

Influenza and other respiratory viruses 

JIACRA 

Joint Interagency Antimicrobial Consumption and Resistance Analysis 

MediPIET  

Mediterranean Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training 

KPI 

MB 

Key Performance Indicator 

Management Board 

MDRO 

Multi-drug-resistant organism 

MERS-CoV   Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus 

NFP  

National Focal Point 

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NGO 

NITAG 

OA 

OCP 

OECD 

PHE 

PRIME 

ROA 

RRA 

Non-governmental organisation 

National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group 

Open Access 

Operational contact points 

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development 

Public health emergency 

ECDC planning and monitoring system 

Rapid Outbreak Assessment 

Rapid Risk Assessment 

RT-PCR 

Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction 

SARI 

SARMS 

Severe Acute Respiratory Infection 

Scientific Advice Repository and Management System 

SARS-CoV-2  Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 

SDG 

SLA  

SNE 

SoHO 

SPOC 

SRM 

STI  

TA 

TB  

TCS 

Sustainable Development Goals 

Service level agreement 

Seconded national experts 

Substances of human origin 

Single point of contact 

Stakeholder Relationship Management 

Sexually transmitted infections 

Temporary agent 

Tuberculosis 

Targeted country support 

TEPHINET 

Training Programmes in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network 

TESSy  

TTT 

UCPM 

The European Surveillance System 

Threat Tracking Tool 

European Union Civil Protection Mechanism 

VectorNet 

European network for medical and veterinary entomology 

VMP 

VPD 

VPI  

WGS 

Vaccine Monitoring Platform 

Vaccine Preventable Disease 

Vaccine-preventable diseases and immunisation 

Whole genome sequencing 

WHO  

World Health Organization 

WHO Europe  World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe 

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Glossary of ECDC’s main IT1

System/application 

Description 

Early Warning and Response 
System (EWRS) 

ECDC Candidate Expert 
Directory (ECED) 

ECDC data warehouse 

ECDC Library (E-LARA) 

A rapid alert system that supports critical communication about serious cross-
border health threats, through a web-based platform used to exchange 
information on public health threats, between the EU/EEA Member States, the 
European Commission, other EU agencies and the World Health Organization. 

A roster of prospective external experts that allows ECDC, when determined 
necessary by the Centre, to widen the number of experts and areas of 
knowledge and skills beyond its own expert staff and expertise. 

A data warehouse that hosts all indicator and event-based surveillance data, as 
well as determinants of health data. It covers relevant information to perform 
standard or specific epidemiological surveillance analysis and reporting along 
with a harmonised terminology between datasets for all the communicable 
diseases and related special health topics covered by ECDC. Through its 
dataset management and storage, ECDC data warehouse supports the ECDC 
Open Data Framework.  

A library that provides information through its collection and by making 
available the tools to ease access to information. The library develops a 
collection (both electronic and print) and provides services via the Library 
Intranet and physical area. 

ECDC Scientific Advice 
Repository and Management 
System (SARMS) 

A system that supports the production of ECDC outputs with scientific content, from 
registration to clearance and dissemination using electronic workflows. It provides a 
repository of ECDC scientific outputs for reference and auditing purposes. 

ECDC Virtual Academy 
(EVA)  

ECDC web portal 

Enterprise Content 
Management Platform 
(ECMP) 

European Surveillance 
Portal for Infectious 
Diseases (EpiPulse) 

A learning management system that supports ECDC public health training 
activities. It provides access to e-learning and blended courses, training 
materials, and administration of face-to-face activities, including the ECDC 
Fellowship Programme (EPIET, EUPHEM), MediPIET and continuous 
professional development activities designed, developed, and implemented 
together with different ECDC teams and experts.  

Supports ECDC overall communication by making available outputs and 
information for the Centre’s target audiences, including public health 
professionals, policy makers, media and the general public. 

ECDC’s unified portal for information and documents, as well as internal and 
external collaboration spaces. The portal is divided into three hubs:  
• 

An information centre providing everyone at ECDC with information about 
ECDC and other EU institutions (e.g. daily news, actions and decisions 
taken by management, upcoming events, training courses, and many 
other topics of interest.)  
A document centre combining and centralising all working and official 
documentation in one place. It hosts Unit, Section and Group 
repositories, as well as horizontal project repositories or workspaces.  
An external document collaboration centre where access can be granted to 
nominated external partners and collaborators, agencies, or individuals. 

• 

• 

Online portal for European public health authorities and global partners to 
collect, analyse, share and discuss infectious disease data for surveillance, 
threat detection, monitoring, risk assessment and outbreak response. EpiPulse 
was launched in 2021 and integrates several surveillance systems that were 
previously independent (The European Surveillance System (TESSy), the five 
Epidemic Intelligence Information System (EPIS) platforms and the Threat 
Tracking Tool (TTT)). It provides new functionalities and seamless access to 
data in a single platform. The portal facilitates collection, analysis, and 
dissemination of indicator- and event-based surveillance data on infectious 
diseases and associated health issues, including global epidemic intelligence, 
whole-genome sequencing and health determinants.  

1 This list of ECDC’s main IT systems is not exhaustive and several support systems are not included. 

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System/application 

Description 

European Federation 
Gateway Service (EFGS) 

Eurosurveillance publication 
platform and website 

Component of the technical interoperability solution agreed by participating 
Member States in the eHealth network to enable interoperability of approved 
mobile apps supporting contact tracing, as set out in the Commission 
Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1023 of 15 July 2020 amending 
Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1765 as regards the cross-border exchange 
of data between national contact tracing and warning mobile applications 
related to combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A platform that allows content management, storage and dispatching of 
articles and related information to various repositories and databases, as well 
as the web publication of Eurosurveillance, a European journal on 
communicable diseases ranking among the top 10 journals in its field.  

Eurosurveillance electronic 
submission system 

A platform where authors can upload articles to be processed and monitored 
by the editors, based on workflows that entail internal and external evaluation 
(peer-review). 

ECDC Planning and 
Monitoring System (PRIME) 

Internal system used to plan and monitor the implementation of ECDC’s annual 
work programmes. 

PHE Intranet 

Internal crisis management tool where response activities and resources are 
gathered, managed and maintained. 

Stakeholder Relationship 
Management (SRM) system 

A primary business system of contacts, relationships (internal and external) 
and interactions with ECDC stakeholders. Supports the centralised 
management of Member States and other external contacts. The system is a 
user-friendly one-stop-shop with the potential to evolve in order to meet 
growing business needs. 

Surveillance Atlas of 
Infectious Diseases 

A tool that provides interactive and graphical access to surveillance data. It is 
accessible via ECDC's web portal. The Atlas has been evolving, particularly in 
terms of the number of diseases covered. 

The European Surveillance 
System (TESSy) 

Supports collection and validation of data for public health surveillance, 
provided by EU Member States and other associated countries. TESSy will be 
gradually integrated into EpiPulse. 

Threat Reports Mobile App 

Free and open-access mobile application that gives direct access to key 
updates and reports on communicable disease threats of concern to the EU on 
mobile devices. 

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Single Programming Document 2024−2026 

Foreword 

Implementing the revised ECDC Founding Regulation and the amended mandate in close collaboration with the 
Member States and the Commission will remain the priority for the Centre during the period 2024−2026. This 
Single Programming Document 2024−2026 is the first one guided by the adapted ECDC Strategy 2021−2027 since 
the amended mandate entered into force. The emphasis of this strategy is to demonstrate the areas in which the 
mandate has been strengthened, where progress is needed first and to facilitate the monitoring of this progress 
through related Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The two main areas where ECDC’s mandate has been 
reinforced in terms of support to the Member States are 1) strengthening and digitalising their communicable 
disease surveillance systems, and enabling interconnectivity between these and other relevant data bases as 
prerequisites towards a digitalised EU level surveillance system, and 2) assisting with prevention, emergency 
preparedness, and response planning activities (e.g. through the EU Health Task Force). The projects that ECDC 
has been implementing with the Western Balkans and Türkiye, European Neighbourhood Policy partner countries, 
and the Africa CDC will all be coming to an end during the period 2024−2026, providing an opportunity to re-
define the future objectives for ECDC’s international work.  

At the end of 2022, ECDC initiated its internal transformation programme to ensure that the organisational 
elements for the implementation of the strengthened mandate will be in place by the end of 2026. Those areas 
closest to the direct implementation of actions (e.g. review of outputs and processes, KPIs) have been already 
initiated or completed. It is clear, however, that process of changing the overall culture, mindset, and way in which 
the organisation works will continue for many years to come. Nevertheless, I hope that Member States can already 
now recognise a change in the way that ECDC engages with them - through the implementation of the 
strengthened mandate – and I trust this change is seen as a positive one. 

During this programming cycle there will be two important evaluations related to ECDC: in 2024 the Commission 
will carry out an evaluation2, including an assessment of the operation of the Early Warning and Response System 
(EWRS) and the epidemiological surveillance network and, in 2025 there will be an external evaluation of the 
Centre’s activities, as defined in Article 31 of the amended ECDC Founding Regulation. This external evaluation, 
instigated by the Commission, will also examine the feasibility of extending the mandate to address the impact of 
cross-border threats to health on non-communicable diseases.  

In my view, the past few years have been truly transformational, not only for ECDC but for public health and 
health security across the EU and globally. Our concept of preparedness as a pure [public] health matter has 
changed to acknowledge the need for multi-sector preparedness and strengthened systems thinking in public 
health. At the same time, communities, public health, and healthcare are now being brought closer together in 
order to improve health outcomes. 

In 2021, we determined ECDC’s vision: ‘to improve lives in Europe and globally by applying scientific excellence, 
thus empowering Member States, the European Commission, and other partners to drive public health policy and 
practice’. Today, ECDC’s amended mandate gives us a strong legal basis for achieving this vision, together with the 
Member States, the Commission, and other key partners. 

Andrea Ammon 

ECDC Director  

2 Regulation (EU) 2022/2371 on serious cross-border threats to health and repealing Decision No 1082/2013/EU, Article 33. 

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Background 

Regulation (EU) 2022/2370 amending Regulation (EC) No 851/2004 establishing a European centre for disease 
prevention and control: 

• 

Article 14.5(d) – [The Management Board shall:] ‘adopt, before 31 January each year, the Centre’s 
programme of work for the coming year.’ 

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Mission statement 

The Centre’s mission is laid down in Article 3 of the amended ECDC Founding Regulation 3, which states that: 

‘…the mission of the Centre shall be to identify and assess current and emerging threats to human health from 
communicable diseases and related special health issues, to report thereon and, where appropriate, to ensure that 
information thereon is presented in an easily accessible way. The Centre shall act in collaboration with competent 
bodies of the Member States or on its own initiative, through a dedicated network. 

The mission of the Centre shall also be to provide science-based recommendations and support in coordinating the 
response at Union and national levels, as well as at cross-border interregional and regional level, to such threats, 
where appropriate. In providing such recommendations, the Centre shall, where necessary, cooperate with 
Member States and take into account existing national crisis management plans and the respective circumstances 
of each Member State. 

In the case of other outbreaks of diseases of unknown origin that may spread within or to the Union, the Centre 
shall act on its own initiative until the source of the outbreak is known. In the case of an outbreak that is clearly 
not of a communicable disease, the Centre shall act only in cooperation with the coordinating competent bodies 
and upon their request and provide a risk assessment. 

In pursuing its mission, the Centre shall respect the responsibilities of the Member States, the Commission and 
other Union bodies or agencies, and the responsibilities of third countries and international organisations active 
within the field of public health, in particular the WHO, in order to ensure that there is comprehensiveness, 
coherence and complementarity of action and that actions are coordinated. 

The Centre shall support the work of the Health Security Committee (HSC), established by Article 4 of Regulation 
(EU) 2022/2371, the Council, the Member States and, where relevant, other Union structures, in order to promote 
effective coherence between their respective activities and to coordinate responses to serious cross-border threats 
to health, within its mandate.’ 

ECDC vision 

To improve lives in Europe and globally by applying scientific excellence, thus empowering the Member States, the 
European Commission, and other partners to drive public health policy and practice. 

3 Regulation (EU) 2022/2370 amending Regulation (EC) No 851/2004 establishing a European centre for disease prevention and 
control. 

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1. General context 

Since its creation in 2004, ECDC has been committed to protecting human health through the prevention and 
control of communicable diseases and special health issues such as antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In 2020, the 
outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused the deaths of millions around the world and left many others 
with severe disability. 

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 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 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 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. 

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ECDC priorities for 2024 
During 2024, ECDC will continue to help strengthen EU health security by addressing the following main priorities: 

1. 

Enhance support to the EU Member States and the European Commission in emergency 
preparedness and response planning 
ECDC will intensify its activities with a view to enhancing the emergency preparedness and response capabilities 
at the EU and national level. The Centre will collect information on the Member States’ emergency preparedness 
and response planning, in line with the new Regulation on serious cross-border threats to health (SCBTH) and the 
International Health Regulations. In parallel, and also on the basis of the SCBTH Regulation, ECDC will assess all 
EU/EEA countries every three years. The first assessments will take place in 2024. ECDC will offer support to 
address gaps identified during both processes, particularly through the EU Health Task Force.  

ECDC will continue to offer after-action reviews, case studies, simulation exercises, and other capacity-
building activities to strengthen the capabilities and capacities of the Member States and third countries in 
emergency preparedness and response planning, in strategic complementarity with activities pursuant to 
Article 11 of SCBTH (training of healthcare staff and public health staff). Furthermore, ECDC will ensure that 
activities in this priority area take advantage of modelling and forecasting analyses and facilitate the 
integration of in-action research into national threat prioritisation and risk ranking. 

2. 

Reinforce epidemiological surveillance and monitoring 
Consolidating the efforts made in recent years, ECDC will continue to support further development of EU-level 
digital surveillance systems, for the routine collection of data using electronic health records in EU/EEA countries. 

ECDC will continue to assist the Member States with the process of extracting and sharing reliable data that 
conform to EU surveillance objectives and standards. The Centre will work with countries to establish and 
implement operational surveillance systems, with the focus on outbreak-prone diseases. 

As part of the EU joint action on real-time surveillance supported by the EU4Health Programme, further 
support will be provided in collecting and reporting on laboratory-based information for surveillance. ECDC 
will also assist in expanding the capacities of the Member States in the use of whole genome sequencing 
(WGS) and promoting integration of the WGS data for infectious diseases and antimicrobial-resistant 
pathogens under EU surveillance. 

Further development of ECDC’s digital infrastructure for surveillance will remain an important workstream in 
2024, with the focus on ensuring interoperability of the Centre’s internal applications and integration with 
the European Health Data Space. 

Overall, ECDC’s approach to reinforcing surveillance will include 1) support for implementation of the 
EU4Health Programme (surveillance and microbiology national infrastructures), 2) evaluation of Member 
State surveillance systems, 3) exploring access to data from electronic health records and sequence data, 4) 
support to Member States in establishing data linkages between existing health databases, 5) 
implementation of frequent reporting from centralised diagnostic databases. 

3. 

Build profound knowledge of the EU Member States to better target ECDC interventions 

In 2024, ECDC will continue its general country support, as well as Targeted Country Support (TCS) 
activities that aim to assist those Member States with specific vulnerabilities, to gain a better understanding 
of the main challenges and needs of individual countries and better tailor the Centre’s support for them. 

The Centre will engage in a dialogue with the Member States through country missions and networking 
activities with the Coordinating Competent Bodies (CCBs). 

Ongoing and systematic collection of country-specific data from different sources (ECDC, WHO, Organisation for 
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), etc.) will continue, to enable an overarching EU overview of the 
strengths and vulnerabilities of the Member States’ public health systems. This country-specific background 
information will help the EU Health Task Force, when activated at the request of a Member State to provide 
support in response to an outbreak, or with emergency preparedness and response planning. In addition, it will 
inform the Single Programming Document and annual work programme planning, to focus support activities on 
specific needs while also facilitating exchanges of experience between countries with strengths in a certain area 
and those with vulnerabilities in the same area. 

4. 

Intensify strategic partnerships at the EU and international level to create synergies and avoid 
duplication of action 
The Centre will further strengthen its cooperation and coordination with external partners such as other EU 
agencies, WHO, and Centres for Disease Control (CDCs) globally. Collaboration with sister EU agencies will 
be strengthened through the implementation of a cross-agency One Health Task Force. ECDC will continue 
to monitor post-authorisation vaccine effectiveness and safety together with the European Medicines Agency 
(EMA)  in  the  jointly  operated  Vaccine  Monitoring  Platform  (VMP).  ECDC’s  threat  anticipation  and  horizon 
scanning activities will support the work of the European Commission (DG HERA). 

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In the event of a public health crisis, ECDC will ensure that the EU Health Task Force is activated to assist local 
responses to outbreaks, in collaboration with the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) and international response 
teams operated by WHO or the WHO Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN). The procedures for 
the mobilisation and deployment of the outbreak assistance team by ECDC will be further refined in cooperation 
with the European Commission and agreements with EU/EEA Member States and external partners. 

In 2024, ECDC will enter the final implementation phase of the technical cooperation projects with the Western 
Balkans and Türkiye under the EU Enlargement policy (ECDC-IPA6), the European Neighbourhood Policy partner 
countries (EU Initiative on Health Security), and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC4Africa 
CDC). Consideration will be given to the sustainability of actions, continued coordination within the established 
partnerships, and defining new cooperation frameworks to build on the achievements of long-lasting collaboration. 

5. 

Address priority conditions and issues at European level 
• 

Tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) 
Implementation of the European One Health Action Plan against AMR and cooperation at the 
international level on antimicrobials are among the key health priorities formulated by the President of 
the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in 2019. In 2024, they will remain at the top of the 
agenda, and ECDC will continue to prioritise its activities for tackling AMR. 

A new Council Recommendation on stepping up EU actions to combat AMR in a One Health approach 
(2023/C 220/01) was adopted on 13 June 2023. ECDC will support Member States and the European 
Commission in implementing this Council Recommendation (as well as any new relevant Council 
Conclusions) and follow up on related actions (such as participating in the inter-agency AMR working 
group). ECDC will also support Member States and the European Commission in implementing the Global 
Action Plan on AMR (WHO), the Global Strategy, Action Plan and Monitoring Framework on Infection 
Prevention and Control (WHO), and the Roadmap on AMR for the WHO European Region 2023−2030.  

As part of the implementation of the SCBTH Regulation, a substantial part of the country assessment missions, 
under Article 8 of this Regulation, will be devoted to emergency preparedness and response, AMR and 
healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), and infection prevention and control (IPC). ECDC will continue to 
work on AMR issues from a One Health perspective in collaboration with the European Food Safety Authority 
(EFSA), EMA, and the European Environment Agency (EEA). As in previous years, at the request of a 
Member State, ECDC will continue to undertake joint country visits together with DG SANTE, possibly with 
the participation of WHO, to discuss issues from a One Health perspective. The Centre will also continue to 
contribute to the Transatlantic Task Force on AMR (TATFAR). With the aim of increasing awareness of AMR 
and the need for prudent use of antibiotics among healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the general 
public, ECDC will continue to coordinate European Antibiotic Awareness Day in partnership with the World 
AMR Awareness Week, through enhanced communication activities and campaigns. 
• 

Support the European Commission and the EU Member States in addressing the 
Sustainable Development Goals4 in the area of HIV, TB and hepatitis 
The UN Sustainable Development Goals call for action to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being. 
The work by ECDC falls under Goal 3.3 to end ‘the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and 
neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable 
diseases’ by 2030. In 2024, the focus of ECDC’s activities will remain on HIV infection, TB, and 
hepatitis. ECDC will continue to monitor progress and work closely with the European Commission, 
Member States, and other stakeholders (WHO, EU Drugs Agency (EUDA)5, etc.) to help tackle the 
three diseases and, through technical guidance and targeted country support, contribute to efforts to 
reduce their incidence and mortality. 

• 

Support prevention and control activities, including enhanced post-authorisation 
monitoring of the effectiveness of vaccines with specific focus on COVID-19 vaccines, and 
assistance to countries to improve vaccine coverage in the EU 
With the development of new vaccines against COVID-19, their market authorisations in the EU, and 
implementation of large-scale immunisation programmes; ECDC has since 2022 been working with the 
European Medicines Agency (EMA) in the jointly operated Vaccine Monitoring Platform (VMP) for the 
post-authorisation monitoring of vaccine safety and effectiveness. These studies are expected to continue 
and expand to other priority vaccines over the years and will remain key to generate adequate evidence 
to support continuous assessment of the benefits and risks of the vaccines and inform decision-making 
on their use in national or regional vaccination strategies for different populations. 

ECDC will continue to build horizontal areas of support for the Member States in order to strengthen 
national immunisation programmes.  

4 http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/ 
5 Based on Regulation (EU) 2023/1322, the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) replaces and succeeds the European 
Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). 

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ECDC will sustain its efforts to improve respiratory virus surveillance and pandemic preparedness, including 
emergency preparedness and rapid response capabilities for zoonotic influenza and coronaviruses. ECDC will 
continue to provide independent and relevant advice and technical support to the European Commission 
and Member States through regular surveillance outputs, risk assessments, evidence-based scientific 
assessments, and technical guidance. 

While placing particular attention on the above priorities, work will continue in other fields of ECDC activity, in line 
with the tasks defined in the amended ECDC Founding Regulation. This will also include coordination of disease 
and laboratory networks, together with the further development of the network of EU reference laboratories and 
network for substances of human origin (SoHO). The Centre will offer training courses and other capacity-building 
activities, also as part of the ECDC Fellowship Programme and through the Continuous Professional Development 
initiative for short courses and e-learning. Scientific and technical advice will be provided in the field of prevention 
and control of communicable diseases and special health issues, including in the areas of behavioural insights, risk 
communication or via the continued publication of the open-access Eurosurveillance journal. 

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2. Multi-annual programming 2024-2026 

2.1 Multiannual work programme 2024-2026  
The amended ECDC Founding Regulation calls for the Centre to focus its interventions on specific priority areas. In 
view of this, ECDC’s Strategy 2021−2027 has been adapted, including the Strategic Objectives that will guide ECDC 
interventions in the next few years. The Strategy Implementation Roadmap has also been reviewed in light of the 
amended Strategy 2021−2027 and serves as a basis for ECDC planning. The Multiannual Work Programme 
2024−2026, along the Implementation Roadmap, presents ECDC’s medium term plans towards achieving the 
Strategic Objectives. 

ECDC work in disease areas 2024−2026 

Antimicrobial resistance 
ECDC will continue to support Member States in further strengthening the surveillance of AMR and antimicrobial 
consumption, publishing annual reports, and the other formats such as the ECDC Surveillance Atlas of Infectious 
Diseases, in collaboration with the WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS) and WHO’s 
global surveillance of antimicrobial consumption. ECDC will support Member States and the European Commission in 
implementing the Council Recommendation on stepping up EU actions to combat AMR in a One Health approach 
(2023/C 220/01) (as well as any new relevant Council Conclusions) and follow-up on related actions. In 2024, this will 
include discussing with the relevant networks how to improve surveillance of AMR in line with the Council 
Recommendation; defining the scope and devising a strategy to develop ‘EU guidelines on infection prevention and 
control (IPC) in human health’ and participating in the inter-agency AMR working group. In addition, ECDC will 
support Member States and the European Commission in implementing the European ‘One Health’ Action Plan against 
AMR, the Global Action Plan on AMR (WHO), and the Roadmap on AMR for the WHO European Region 2023−2030. 
ECDC will also provide its support, as an observer, 10he the EU’s Second Joint Action on AMR and HAIs. 

ECDC will continue its collaboration with EFSA and EMA. Together with these two EU Agencies, it will start working 
on the fifth JIACRA report. ECDC will also contribute to the publication of a joint scientific report (involving 
EFSA/ECHA/ECDC/EEA/JRC) on the impact of the use of azole fungicides, other than for human medicines and on 
the development of azole-resistant Aspergillus spp. ECDC will continue to support the standardisation of 
antimicrobial susceptibility testing in the EU/EEA, and the integration of molecular surveillance through the 
European Antimicrobial Resistance Genes Surveillance Network (EURGen-Net). As part of the implementation of the 
SCBTH Regulation, a substantial share of the country assessment missions under Article 8 of this Regulation, which 
ECDC will conduct every three years in every EU/EEA country from 2024 onwards, will be devoted to emergency 
preparedness and response to AMR and HAIs, as well as IPC. In addition, ECDC will perform country visits, jointly 
with the Directorate General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE/F), adopting a ‘One-Health’ perspective where 
necessary, in accordance with Member State requests. ECDC will continue to contribute to the Transatlantic Task 
Force on AMR (TATFAR – work plan 2021−2025). 

To support Member States in implementing the Global Action Plan on AMR and the Roadmap on AMR for the WHO 
European Region 2023−2030, ECDC will continue exploring the relationship between the level of implementation of 
IPC structure and processes and of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS), as well as AMR rates in European acute-care 
hospitals and long-term care facilities. ECDC will continue to coordinate the European Antibiotic Awareness Day, in 
partnership with the World AMR Awareness Week, and provide support to Member States on behavioural change 
intervention design in the area of prudent use of antibiotics, taking into account the results of the study on barriers 
to effective implementation of AMR policies once these are available. Finally, ECDC will complement its directory of 
online resources for the prevention and control of AMR. 

Healthcare-associated infections 
ECDC will continue supporting Member States in implementing the Council Recommendation on patient safety, 
including the prevention and control of HAIs (2009/C 151/01). ECDC will support Member States in further 
strengthening surveillance of HAIs through the publication of annual reports and the use of other formats such as 
the ECDC Surveillance Atlas of Infectious Diseases. ECDC will publish the results of the point prevalence survey of 
HAIs and antimicrobial use in acute-care hospitals in the EU/EEA (performed in 2022−2023) and will continue to 
develop a similar survey within long-term care facilities in the EU/EEA (2023−2024). ECDC will provide support to 
Member States on behavioural change intervention design in the areas of IPC and AMS, taking into account the 
results of the study on barriers to effective implementation of AMR policies, once these are available. Finally, ECDC 
will complement its directory of online resources for the prevention and control of HAIs. 

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Single Programming Document 2024−2026 

Emerging and vector-borne diseases 
Collation of indicator-based and event-based surveillance data on emerging and vector-borne diseases and timely 
assessment of the risk for European citizens will remain the focus of ECDC’s activities in 2024−2026. Emergency 
preparedness, prevention and control activities will be conducted with a particular focus on emerging diseases, 
such as dengue and chikungunya, and endemic diseases such as West Nile virus infection and tick-borne 
encephalitis. Evidence-based scientific advice will also be provided - for example through the completion of 
systematic reviews. The ‘One-Health’ approach will be further emphasised to ensure the most comprehensive and 
efficient actions to identify, assess, control and prevent zoonotic and vector-borne diseases. Communication with 
the Member States will be facilitated by an annual EVD-Net network meeting and Disease Network Coordination 
Committee (DNCC) meetings. The joint ECDC-EFSA VectorNet project (European network for medical and 
veterinary entomology) will continue mapping vector distributions and training and scientific expertise in medical 
entomology-related topics. 

European Reference Laboratories (EURLs) will be set up to cover emerging and vector-borne viral, bacterial and 
parasitic diseases and these will be coordinated by ECDC. The EURLs will provide laboratory services, EQAs and 
laboratory training courses to support Member State capacities and capabilities 11he the diagnosis of emerging and 
vector-borne infections.  

Food- and waterborne diseases 
ECDC will continue driving the integration of indicator-based and event-based surveillance data based on public 
data from the public health sector with that of the food and veterinary sector. The Centre will produce joint ECDC-
EFSA surveillance reports (i.e. the European Union Summary Reports on zoonoses and on AMR) and joint ECDC-
EFSA public health risk assessments (i.e. rapid outbreak assessments) on cross-border foodborne threats. In 
addition, facilitated by a robust ECDC-EFSA WGS data submission and analysis system, ECDC and EFSA will ensure 
the timely detection of and response to cross-border foodborne outbreaks using a ‘One-Health’ approach. Similarly, 
the implementation of WGS data submission and analysis will continue as part of the annual AMR monitoring of 
Salmonella and Campylobacter. EURLs covering food and water-borne viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases will be 
set up and coordinated by ECDC. These EURL will provide laboratory services, EQAs and laboratory training courses 
to support Member State capacities and capabilities for the diagnosis of food- and water-borne diseases. ECDC will 
continue providing scientific advice and, through the expert exchange programme (FWDEEP), support capacity and 
capability-building in Member States. 

Sustainable Development Goal diseases – hepatitis B and C, HIV, sexually 
transmitted infections, and TB 
ECDC will continue supporting Member States, the European Commission and relevant EU-level commitments, and 
other key stakeholders in reaching the SDG target 3.3 for hepatitis, HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and TB in 
close collaboration with other organisations such as WHO’s Regional Office for Europe, EUDA, and UNAIDS. The 
target is to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, 
water-borne diseases, and other communicable diseases by 2030. Activities are implemented in the following 
areas: surveillance and monitoring; scientific advice for prevention and control; support to Member States and 
other key stakeholders; microbiology support and interaction with external stakeholders. 

Surveillance is needed for robust and reliable information to measure progress towards the SDG targets and guide 
public health action. The quality of surveillance information at EU/EEA level is different for hepatitis, HIV, sexually-
transmitted infections and TB, with sufficient data availability and quality for HIV and TB to measure progress at 
EU/EEA level, while surveillance data for hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections are of lower quality and 
completeness. Together with partners such as WHO’s Regional Office for Europe and EUDA, ECDC will support 
Member States in further strengthening HIV/AIDS and TB surveillance. For both diseases, ECDC will produce a joint 
annual report with WHO’s Regional Office for Europe. For hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections, ECDC will 
continue to optimise the quality of the surveillance data through close collaboration with public health colleagues in 
Member States. However, there are inherent challenges in surveillance of these infections due to their 
asymptomatic nature, so other epidemiological methods are being implemented to gather information in order to 
provide a better overview of the epidemiological situation. For hepatitis, ECDC will collect sentinel surveillance data 
from healthcare facilities for hepatitis B and C and develop estimates of mortality due to hepatitis. ECDC will also 
continue to provide technical support to Member States to assist them in undertaking national hepatitis prevalence 
surveys among the general population. For sexually transmitted infections ECDC supports Member States in testing 
Neisseria gonorrhoeae for antimicrobial resistance. For sexually transmitted infections overall, ECDC will work 
together with the Member States on data collection to enhance or complete surveillance information. 

Monitoring enables progress towards the SDGs for hepatitis, HIV, and tuberculosis to be assessed and gaps in responses 
to these infections to be identified. It also facilitates planning for the best use of resources. ECDC will implement a 
monitoring framework that harmonises the collection, validation, analysis, interpretation and archiving of data for the 
SDG diseases, in particular adapting experience with HIV monitoring. The results of the monitoring work are included in 
comprehensive reports for Member States and others and shared widely across the region with key stakeholders.  

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Scientific advice provided by ECDC for SDG disease prevention and control allows Member States to benefit from the 
latest evidence-based interventions to effectively prevent and control diseases. ECDC will strengthen the evidence 
base informing disease strategies and programmes and will provide guidance for evidence-based prevention and 
control policies on hepatitis, HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and TB. Together with the European AIDS Clinical 
Society (EACS), ECDC will continue the work on standards of care for HIV/AIDS and will explore with the European 
Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) whether this work can be extended to hepatitis. 

Support to Member States and other key stakeholders will be provided by ECDC to strengthen capacity in Member 
States for SDG disease prevention and control and to support the exchange of good practices. ECDC will organise 
training courses, workshops and exchange visits on topics identified by Member States. ECDC will also support 
Member States in raising awareness for the SDG diseases. We will focus our communication efforts on activities 
and products that will be released around World Hepatitis Day, World AIDS Day and World TB Day.  

Microbiology support will be provided by ECDC to aid Member States in their efforts to ensure quality diagnostics 
for gonorrhoea and TB. ECDC will provide external quality assurance and implement activities to enhance 
diagnostic capacity in Member States. For both diseases continuous support will be provided to help the 
implementation and standardisation of whole genome sequencing. 

Interaction with Member States on scientific and technical work related to SDG diseases mainly takes place through 
disease specific networks, with members being nominated by their respective Competent Body. The following 
networks are operated by ECDC for the SDG diseases: hepatitis, HIV, sexually transmitted infections including the 
Euro-GASP network, and tuberculosis including the ERLTB-Net. Each network has elected members for the DNCC. 
ECDC will organise regular meetings of the Disease Network Coordination Committees and coordinate the 
networks. The Centre will organise virtual or face-to-face network meetings and, where appropriate, this will be 
done together with WHO’s Regional Office for Europe and will involve other key stakeholders, such as EUDA, the 
EU Civil Society Forum, as well as initiatives and learned societies focussing on the areas of HIV, hepatitis, sexually 
transmitted infections and tuberculosis. 

Substances of human origin (SoHO) 
ECDC will continue the implementation of new tasks associated with substances of human origin (SoHO) in relation 
to communicable diseases, as included in the strengthened ECDC mandate and the Commission proposal for a 
Regulation on standards of quality and safety for substances of human origin intended for human application. 
ECDC will coordinate the SoHO network with officially nominated National Focal Points, to improve efficiency and 
cooperation between Member States and subsequently assist national decision-making on the microbiological 
safety of SoHO. ECDC uses EpiPulse as an expert platform to identify, assess, and propose management of risks 
that are relevant for substances of human origin. ECDC will monitor disease outbreaks that are relevant to 
substances of human origin and the supply through epidemic intelligence activities. ECDC will also work on bio-
vigilance. In close collaboration with a scientific panel, ECDC will develop technical guidelines on the prevention of 
donor-derived transmission of communicable diseases through substances of human origin. 

Respiratory viral infections 
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU/EEA countries will be affected by the cumulative impact of 
respiratory viruses (influenza, RSV, COVID-19 and others) during the period 2024−2026. ECDC will continue to 
provide relevant technical support to the European Commission and Member States through regular surveillance 
outputs, risk assessments, evidence-based scientific assessments, and technical guidance, as well as regional 
workshops and country-specific support for the revision of (respiratory) pandemic preparedness plans. 

ECDC’s work will be closely aligned with Member States’ efforts through the national reference laboratories and the 
dedicated surveillance networks. In the period 2024−2026, ECDC will continue its work with the National 
Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) and will continue to monitor vaccine impact, effectiveness and 
vaccination coverage, and otherwise support Member States in reaching optimal vaccination coverage rates and 
counteracting vaccine disinformation. This will complement the ongoing work of the WHO Regional Office for 
Europe to build the capacity of NITAGs through the evidence-to-recommendation initiative. ECDC will continue to 
improve its ability and organisational capacity to provide timely, actionable and high-quality scientific advice and 
assessments. ECDC will also sustain its effort to improve respiratory virus pandemic preparedness and emergency 
preparedness and rapid response capabilities for zoonotic influenza and coronaviruses.  

Public health microbiology structures and activities in Member States will be supported with a focus on the 
implementation of WGS and RT-PCR infrastructure, and capacity-building under the EU bio-defence preparedness 
plan against SARS-CoV-2 variants. These activities will further strengthen the Centre’s plans to scale up support for 
and use of WGS and the detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants, including the integration of surveillance WGS data for 
pathogens, scientific guidance on the added value of WGS, and the organisation of training initiatives in 
bioinformatics and WGS data management. Similar support will also be provided for zoonotic influenza viruses and 
other respiratory viral threats, as required. 

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ECDC will integrate the regular reporting of surveillance data on COVID-19 and influenza with RSV. ECDC will 
continue to provide guidance for Member States strengthening their integrated surveillance systems for respiratory 
viruses. The lack of sensitive, flexible and sustainable surveillance systems that integrate primary and secondary 
healthcare data to effectively detect and monitor the trends of diseases such as COVID-19, influenza or RSV 
became evident during the pandemic. Significant efforts are needed to facilitate the process of case ascertainment, 
testing, and reporting from the various levels of the healthcare systems in accordance with well-defined 
surveillance objectives and protocols. The implementation of SARI surveillance will continue, to ensure that more 
countries are able to comply with the European surveillance protocol, providing high quality, population-based data 
for the early detection, assessment, and monitoring of influenza, COVID-19, RSV and other respiratory infection 
trends, and the impact of public health interventions including vaccines. 

ECDC will continue to drive the high-quality surveillance of respiratory viruses at the European level, in close 
collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe, WHO headquarters in Geneva, and the National Focal 
Points. Seasonal influenza continues to be one of the communicable diseases with the highest burden on the 
health of the EU population. ECDC will further strengthen influenza laboratory and surveillance capacity in the 
Member States through EQAs, bioinformatics ring trials, and laboratory support. ECDC will continue to improve 
methods and expand collaboration on excess mortality monitoring. 

ECDC will support national vaccination programmes and strategies against respiratory viruses by providing 
evidence-based scientific advice and EU-level monitoring of vaccine impact and effectiveness as well as vaccination 
coverage, to support Member States in reaching target vaccination coverage rates and to support the work of the 
National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) collaboration. ECDC will further develop tools, training 
material, and evidence-based guidance for Member States, to support national and regional stakeholders in their 
communication campaigns regarding vaccination against respiratory viruses, focusing on increasing vaccination 
uptake in the target groups. 

National and European pandemic preparedness plans against respiratory viruses will need to be reviewed and 
updated, based on the lessons learnt from the response to COVID-19. Monitoring of avian and swine influenza 
outbreaks in close collaboration with EFSA will continue to ensure rapid response to outbreaks and identification of 
viruses of pandemic potential. 

During the period 2024−2026, many EU countries will have established national RSV surveillance programmes in 
order to assess the impact of the introduction of vaccination programmes. ECDC will aim to further develop and 
establish EU-level surveillance for RSV – and potentially for other respiratory viral pathogens. 

Legionnaires’ disease 
ECDC will continue to work with Member States through the ELDSNet network activities, improving and refining the 
collation of relevant surveillance data to monitor disease trends, and supporting timely prevention and response 
action by stakeholders. Surveillance systems include ‘near real-time’ reporting of travel-associated Legionnaires’ 
disease cases and possible community cross-border outbreak events, as well as retrospective reporting of annual 
case data and outbreaks. Surveillance reporting will be consolidated through a finalised integrated case and event-
based surveillance using the platform of EpiPulse. ECDC will further work to build capacities and capabilities for 
molecular surveillance and integration of such data into surveillance and outbreak response, as relevant to cross-
border threats. A priority will be placed on supporting the technical capacity of laboratories for Legionella 
diagnostics and genomic methods. Exchange of experience and knowledge in the ELDSNet network will be 
facilitated through external collaboration platforms and annual or technical meetings. The Centre will also work 
with the European Commission and other European agencies such as EEA, as well as WHO and other international 
partners, on the prevention and monitoring of Legionnaires’ disease and Legionella in relation to environmental risk 
sources, using a ‘One-Health’ approach.  

COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccine-preventable diseases 
During the period 2024−2026 there will be a need to integrate COVID-19 vaccination programmes into the routine 
immunisation schedule as part of national immunisation programmes based on public health needs, and work will 
continue to adapt COVID-19 uptake monitoring to COVID-19 vaccination programme strategies. Significant work 
will be required to continue sustaining the efforts initiated by ECDC in 2020 to conduct independent public health 
studies to monitor the effectiveness of vaccines in the short, medium, and longer term. This work will be 
conducted in collaboration with EMA, with financial contributions from the European Commission as part of an EU 
Vaccine Monitoring Platform (VMP) and the Immunisation Vaccine Monitoring Advisory Board (IVMAB). In 
2024−2026 and beyond, such studies will continue to be critical for informing the adjustment of vaccination 
strategies, based on the scientific evidence available.  

ECDC’s established platform and collaboration between National Focal Points for VPD/National Immunisation 
Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) will continue to play a critical role, serving as a forum to foster dialogue 
among countries with a view to sharing plans and practices in the assessment of vaccines and the management of 
vaccination programmes.  

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Work on the forthcoming Council Recommendation on vaccine-preventable cancers will be critical and ECDC is 
expected to share further information on HPV and the dissemination of HPV vaccination coverage, as well as 
scientific evidence concerning different HPV vaccination strategies. 

The re-emergence of vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles, which were at very low levels of circulation 
during the period 2020−2022, will again be an area of focus, in close collaboration with WHO’s Regional Office for 
Europe and WHO’s headquarters.  

Strategic Objective 1: Maintain the independence and rigour of 
scientific processes and strengthen the relevance and 
accessibility of scientific outputs to support public health 
policies and practices at national and EU levels 
During the period 2024−2026, key stakeholders and networks will be consulted systematically through the IRIS 
prioritisation framework and tool to map needs and expectations annually, and to assess the relevance of ECDC’s work 
plan. ECDC will implement its Science Impact Framework which aims to understand the impact of ECDC’s outputs in 
informing the field, raising awareness, priming actions, and influencing national public health policies and practices. 

ECDC will continue reviewing its scientific quality assurance processes and define, apply, and promote standards for 
all its key surveillance and scientific advice processes and outputs to ensure integrity, methodological rigour, and 
reliability throughout the public health lifecycle from data collection, analysis, and interpretation to publication and 
communication. Building on the evidence from implementation science, ECDC will undertake a project to re-
engineer its public health outputs to increase their accessibility, relevance and utility for key audiences. 

ECDC will continue strengthening its evidence assessment and analysis capacity and capabilities to provide in-
depth scientific evidence syntheses and statistical analyses, as well as epidemic and modelling intelligence to 
support evidence-informed public health policy-making and practice. The Centre will revise its data flows, and 
explore the use of the latest technologies to continuously improve the performance and timeliness of data 
collection from a variety of data sources while reducing the burden for Member States. ECDC will continue to 
provide downloadable datasets and ensure open access to relevant data, information, outputs, advice and 
guidance as quickly as possible through its website, other publicly available data sites such as the EU Open Data 
Portal, and through open access publication in scientific journals. Moreover, ECDC will continue to develop methods 
and tools for evidence reviews to expedite its processes, with a view to moving towards living reviews and 
guidelines. The Centre will also further improve its internal tools, such as the Scientific Advice Repository and 
Management System, to support quality assurance and compliance with agreed standards. 

ECDC will continue to organise the annual European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Diseases 
(ESCAIDE) to share knowledge on communicable diseases and strengthen networks across all fields related to 
applied infectious disease epidemiology in the EU/EEA and globally. This includes, but is not limited to, 
epidemiologists, veterinarians, microbiologists, clinicians, public health professionals, communication specialists, 
modellers, statisticians, social scientists, and policy makers. The organisation of the conference as hybrid event, as 
well as regular rotation of the hosting site between Stockholm and other cities across the EU/EEA, allows for broad 
online and on-site participation. ECDC will continue its annual ‘Observership Week’ with selected learned societies 
as a way for future public health professionals to gain experience and insight into how ECDC supports coordinated 
public health action across the EU and beyond. 

ECDC will seek to understand future public health opportunities and threats and to further develop its forward-
looking activities through foresight and modelling. As part of continuing efforts to become more anticipatory and 
proactive, the Foresight programme, initiated in 2021, will continue to inform the Centre’s strategic policy and 
operations as well as wider EU infectious disease prevention, control, and emergency preparedness efforts. The 
ECDC Foresight Task Force will be mindful of the Centre’s revised mandate and will ensure that the foresight 
programme is shaped and delivered in ways that are useful and relevant for stakeholders and the Centre as a 
whole. ECDC will also contribute to defining research priorities and to facilitating the development and 
implementation of actions funded by Union instruments – including joint actions – by identifying knowledge gaps 
through its own evidence reviews and through consultation with its networks of experts in Member States. The 
Centre will also consult with the Health Security Committee (HSC), the Commission, and relevant EU bodies or 
agencies on the planning and priority setting of research and public health studies. 

ECDC will also continue to support policymaking through the work of the modelling networks it has set up, which 
include the European COVID-19 Forecast Hub and the European COVID-19 Scenario Modelling Hub.  

ECDC will engage and involve key stakeholders and networks in a more structured and systematic manner, both to 
better understand needs and expectations and to further enhance the relevance and impact of its scientific 
communication. ECDC will also foster internal peer-review and collaboration, as well as inter-institutional 
collaboration within the EU/EEA, with European learned societies, and with its global partners, while maintaining its 
scientific integrity and independence. 

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ECDC will continue to publish the independent journal ‘Eurosurveillance’ which has served public health 
experts/scientists and policymakers with high-quality, open-access (OA) information and data relevant for timely 
public health action since 1996. The editorial team will continue to ensure intensive quality control to ensure that 
the widely accessible scientific information is sound, reliable, understandable, relevant, and actionable for a diverse 
audience. In support of ECDC’s mandate and public health decision-making, the journal’s content will reflect 
relevant aspects of the strengthened mandate, while maintaining its integrity and editorial independence. Social 
media and scientific gatherings, as well as other outreach activities targeting science communicators, will support 
the dissemination and uptake of the journal’s content. Through its knowledge translation and educational activities, 
the journal will further support knowledge sharing and capacity-building. As signatory of the Sustainable 
Development Goals (SDG) Publishers Compact, the journal is committed to supporting the SDG in the area of 
health and well-being and will ensure that this is reflected in the journal content. The Eurosurveillance annual 
theme 2024 and scientific seminar ‘Changing urban environments and effects on infectious diseases and their 
epidemiology, surveillance, prevention and control’ ties in with several SDGs. The theme should attract articles 
combining perspectives from a wide range of disciplines that highlight current and potential future drivers of 
infectious diseases in an urban context. 

Scientific journals/bulletins published by major centres for disease prevention and control play an important role in 
supporting decision-making by sharing emerging evidence in an open and timely manner. Eurosurveillance will 
work towards setting up a community of practice among editors of journals published by the major (international) 
public health institutions to share experiences and good practices. the regular exchanges with editors working in 
the area of emerging infectious diseases (US-CDC), initiated in 2023, will continue.  

ECDC will continue to improve its processes and tools for sharing knowledge (both tacit and codified) internally. The aim 
is to improve efficiency and collaboration by making knowledge more accessible, retrievable, and connected.  

ECDC will continue to work to establish itself as a leader in communication, effectively engaging with diverse 
stakeholders to promote public health, provide accurate information, engage with communities, and drive positive 
behavioural change. The Centre’s overall communication efforts will continue to build its reputation as an 
independent, transparent, open, and trusted agency that produces and shares high-quality and actionable content 
on infectious disease epidemiology, prevention, and control. This will be achieved through targeted public relations 
activities, enhanced engagement with media outlets, closer relationships with health professionals, and cooperation 
with scientific journals, clinical societies, NGOs, and professional organisations. ECDC will strengthen its latest 
communication formats, and explore ways to improve its messaging, outputs, and digital channels, including 
regular content reviews of its website, enhanced social media outreach, collaboration with social media 
ambassadors and paid promotion to reach audiences that would otherwise be unaware of its content. ECDC will 
continue working on its public relations plan, which includes the finalisation of its brand audit and the assessment 
of the need for a re-branding exercise to be implemented within the timeframe of this Single Programming 
Document, as well as the implementation of targeted public relations activities. 

Risk communication activities will also continue to feature in ECDC’s work, supporting EU/EEA countries, and further 
tailoring outputs to the needs of target audiences and by better explaining complex topics in a simple and actionable way 
across platforms. A proper infrastructure is planned to address misinformation, disinformation and infodemics 
management, including social media listening, campaigns to promote digital literacy, and careful presentation of easy-to-
understand facts. Each year, in collaboration with partners and stakeholders, ECDC will implement risk communication 
activities to raise awareness of key public health issues among its target audiences (general public, healthcare 
professionals, media and policymakers). This will be done on a regular basis but also at internationally-recognised points 
in time (e.g. European Antibiotic Awareness Day, European Immunization Week, European Testing Week, World AIDS 
Day, World TB Day, the Influenza Awareness Week, and World Hand Hygiene Day).  

ECDC will continue implementing the actions outlined in its newly-developed Stakeholder Engagement Framework, 
enabling and improving dialogue between ECDC and its stakeholders, to continue to build on the Centre’s reputation 
and promote trust by ensuring transparency in its engagement activities. Efforts will also be made to increase reach, 
visibility, and amplification of ECDC’s messages through its stakeholder groups, ensuring efficiency by understanding 
the stakeholders’ interests, and helping to find ways to work together towards common objectives. 

Improving the transmission of scientific knowledge to external stakeholders (both expert and non-expert) will 
continue to be one of ECDC’s priorities. Good science communication that is engaging, relevant, accessible and 
actionable is critical to supporting public health policies and practices at country and EU level. ECDC will advance 
initiatives to embed the revised scientific advice process into day-to-day working practices. Existing public health 
output templates will be refreshed in line with new output categories to ensure that key messages are 
communicated with clarity.  

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Strategic Objective 2: Provide relevant, reliable and timely 
information and science-based recommendations to enable 
evidence-informed decision-making at national and EU level 
For nearly 20 years, ECDC has been involved in intense interactions with the Member State public health 
authorities, their surveillance systems and data, and their emergency preparedness and response mechanisms and 
challenges. Therefore, the Centre is in a unique position to identify and address key public health issues to which 
EU-level analyses, guidance and recommendations would add value. From 2024, based on a new implementing 
regulation which lists notifiable diseases, health issues, events and their case definitions, ECDC will focus on a 
revised set of priority diseases and health issues that have been identified based on their burden, preventability, 
and potential to pose serious cross-border threats. In addition, ECDC will strengthen its epidemic intelligence at a 
global level in order to rapidly inform EU/EEA Member States on emerging threats to European health security. 
ECDC will progressively take a more holistic approach to the prevention and control of such conditions by: 

• 

• 

• 

Anticipating the risks of emergence: while the Foresight programme will help identify key population 
vulnerabilities and priority areas for surveillance, these will need to be addressed through broader access to 
existing data on environmental, socio-demographic, behavioural, and personal determinants. The link 
between emerging disease risks and population-level/individual-level infectious disease risks and health 
outcomes also needs to be better understood. While extended use of publicly-available data sources will 
address some of these needs, in certain instances ECDC may have to promote the collection of new data if 
not readily available - e.g. behavioural determinants through mobile apps. ECDC’s Geoportal, which has 
already been built, and EpiPulse cases will form the basis for cataloguing and correlating exposure and 
outcome data, as specified in the amended ECDC mandate. 
Increasing the quality of ECDC threat assessment: ECDC will focus on generating reliable information on 
the impacts of disease by looking at individual and population risk factors and their contribution to disease 
burden. This will be done by using more comprehensive information from electronic health records on clinical 
outcomes and underlying conditions, and by setting up integrated surveillance systems to monitor disease 
severity in an accurate and timely manner. Data on selected determinants at the European and global level will 
be used to inform the assessment of threats and provide more comprehensive public health intelligence. 
Increasing the timeliness of response to contain disease spread: This will be achieved by focusing 
surveillance on global public health events, further exploiting artificial intelligence to screen social media and other 
sources, and communicating information, assessments, and recommendations more effectively - through threat 
dashboards targeting various stakeholders, from the general public to the Health Security Committee. Event-
based and indicator-based surveillance will be fully integrated into EpiPulse for more effective assessment of 
events and direct communication with the EWRS for prompt and informed coordination of response measures. In 
addition, ECDC will develop routine web-scraping of key national indicators for event/case occurrence and 
severity, thus expediting the EU/EEA response to cross-border health threats. 

From 2024, ECDC will further increase the soundness and usefulness of its scientific advice by enhancing the 
quality and quantity of the information it contains. Improving EU/EEA surveillance will be the foundation for 
building a more effective ECDC. In the area of surveillance ECDC will: 

Support Member States in improving data quality at source: ECDC, in collaboration with the Member 
States, will update EU/EEA-level surveillance objectives and define common systems and data standards to meet 
these objectives. Furthermore, ECDC will agree with Member States on a method and process to facilitate and 
streamline the assessment and monitoring of national surveillance systems, especially their performance and 
fitness-for-purpose. In parallel, ECDC will support the effective implementation of the European Commission 
EU4Health programme to strengthen national surveillance and microbiology infrastructures. 
Promote more comprehensive data for decision-making: ECDC will further support national and EU 
health digitalisation strategies. More specifically, ECDC will help Member States in transitioning towards the 
automatic use of electronic health record data for infectious disease surveillance while duly addressing any 
legal constraints. During the period 2024−2026, ECDC will focus on expanding its current eHealth 
programme to cover most countries and diseases, and on supporting the European Commission in the 
coming phases of the European Health Data Space (EHDS2) implementation. This will hopefully lead to 
more complete and reliable data on risk factors and clinical outcomes of cases. Furthermore, ECDC will 
support national analyses based on data linkage and carry out its own data linkage studies, depending on 
data availability. Data linkage can allow analyses across databases which are not interoperable, thus 
generating relevant evidence which is currently unavailable. Depending on public health priorities, ECDC will 
explore the possibility of acquiring data on population risk factors more systematically. Building on the 
strengthened WGS infrastructure and training programme of previous years, most countries will perform 
integrated molecular surveillance at a quality and volume conducive to rapid and comprehensive risk 
assessment and management. In the period covered by this programming document, analysis of molecular 
surveillance data and dissemination of key information for response will be one of the most effective ways 

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• 

to tackle infectious disease threats. Furthermore, ECDC will continue to collaborate with the Joint Research 
Centre (JRC) and Member States, for the further development, standardisation, and use of wastewater 
monitoring as an additional molecular surveillance source for specific pathogens. 
Increase data timeliness: Another major focus of ECDC surveillance will be to assist Member States to 
ensure that data are available for public health action when needed. The COVID-19 pandemic catalysed 
significant improvements in the timeliness of reporting which, in many countries, was achieved by 
establishing centralised databases receiving clinical and diagnostic data in near real-time. ECDC will foster 
the expansion of such databases and other established infrastructures for the automatic reporting of 
laboratory detections, with a focus on epidemic-prone diseases. Signals from this system, along with event-
based and routine surveillance data, will prompt targeted WGS analyses, thus ensuring that key information 
is available in time to control and mitigate disease impact. 
Enhance surveillance outputs: In addition to strengthening data quality, comprehensiveness, and timeliness, 
another element needed to increase the relevance and impact of ECDC surveillance outputs is the improvement 
of their accessibility, clarity, and usability. So far, ECDC has focused on generating detailed reports which mainly 
address public health professionals and policymakers. Backed by its amended mandate, ECDC will develop 
additional formats to ensure that all stakeholders - including the public - have access to relevant information for 
disease prevention and control. Each disease page will include the latest epidemiological information, illustrated 
through clear graphs and reader-friendly text, with a focus on relevant recommendations for both public health 
professionals and the public. In addition, for each disease under surveillance, ECDC will publish an interactive 
report that allows for in-depth data exploration and interpretation. ECDC will also publish dashboards and 
datasets to ensure easy access to key figures and data while enabling third parties to directly consume 
surveillance data for further analyses and visualisations. 

The amended mandate also requires ECDC to strengthen its microbiology capacity and that of Member States. EU 
reference laboratories will be integrated into the existing laboratory network structure coordinated by ECDC. Transitioning 
to the EURL model for laboratory support will stimulate the development of stronger laboratory networks with higher 
capacities and capabilities. In parallel with the investments made into national infrastructure for WGS by the European 
Commission and ECDC, the training programme for genomic epidemiology will continue and eventually cover all major 
disease areas included in the ECDC strategy for integration of genomic typing into EU-level surveillance. ECDC will 
continue to build systems for integrated use of genomic and traditional epidemiological data in EpiPulse. This will allow 
for full implementation of ECDC’s genomic strategy, with active genomic-based epidemiology operational across priority 
diseases under EU surveillance. 

In the period 2024−2026, ECDC will continue to develop scientific advice on communicable disease prevention and 
control measures - such as expert opinions, public health guidance, technical reports, systematic reviews, and scoping 
reviews. As part of the amended mandate, ECDC will be issuing non-binding recommendations to Member States and 
guidelines for the management of communicable diseases and their related special health issues. ECDC will do so on its 
own initiative, or at the request of the European Commission, European Parliament, Health Security Committee (HSC), 
European Medicines Agency (EMA), or Member States. 

The Centre will assist the Member States in evaluating and monitoring their programmes, focusing on diseases 
covered by the Sustainable Development Goals. 

The provision of timely and relevant public health guidance to support evidence-informed decisions on prevention 
and control of communicable diseases at EU and country level remains one of the Centre’s core functions. ECDC 
will continue strengthening its capacity and capabilities in relevant areas, such as qualitative and quantitative data 
analysis, including in-depth statistical analysis and infectious disease modelling to inform ECDC scientific outputs 
such as risk assessments, evidence reviews, and public health recommendations.  

Strategic Objective 3: Support the development of plans, 
systems, and capacities for prevention, emergency 
preparedness and control of communicable diseases and 
related special health issues at national and EU level 
The amended mandate calls for ECDC to develop a framework on prevention. More specifically, it states that ‘in close 
collaboration with Member States, EMA and other relevant Union bodies and agencies, as well as with international 
organisations, the Centre shall develop a framework for the prevention of communicable diseases and related special 
health issues, including socio-economic risk factors, vaccine preventable diseases, antimicrobial resistance, health 
promotion, health education, health literacy and behaviour change.’ ECDC has been working on the ECDC Prevention 
Framework, and this workstream will be implemented gradually during the period 2024−2026. Forthcoming activities will 
include the mapping of organisations involved in prevention activities in Member States, training in the use of social and 
behavioural sciences for prevention and to set up a community of practice on prevention of communicable diseases, 
including social and behavioural science for communicable disease prevention. 

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ECDC will continue developing its One Health Framework for implementation during 2025, including consolidation 
of the ECDC One Health Taskforce and development of the EU cross-agency One Health Task Force in close 
collaboration with EFSA, EMA, EEA and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). 

Furthermore, ECDC will support countries in revising their national health emergency plans and enhancing their 
targeted prevention and control programmes. This includes strengthening the evidence base informing vaccination 
strategies and vaccine programmes and providing guidance for evidence-based prevention and control policies on 
respiratory viral infections, Legionnaires’ disease, emerging and vector-borne diseases, food- and waterborne 
diseases, HIV, TB, hepatitis, sexually-transmitted infections and infections transmitted through substances of 
human origin. It also involves antimicrobial stewardship, infection prevention and control activities in healthcare 
settings and raising awareness of key public health issues. 

As part of the amended mandate, ECDC will continue to provide relevant and high-quality monitoring data and 
scientific advice on communicable diseases. With regard to the priority areas of work in 2024−2026, country support 
will continue to be provided in the form of country missions (at the invitation of the Member State) to enhance the 
prevention and control of AMR and improve the implementation and effectiveness of national action plans in line with 
the objectives set in the Council Recommendation on stepping up EU actions to combat AMR in a One Health 
approach (2023/C 220/01, as well as any new relevant Council conclusions), the Global Action Plan on AMR (WHO), 
the Roadmap on AMR for the WHO European Region, and the European ‘One Health’ Action Plan on AMR. 

The work on vaccines against respiratory viruses (e.g. influenza, COVID-19) will continue, with specific emphasis 
on surveillance systems for monitoring vaccine coverage and studies on vaccine effectiveness (a system that will 
gradually be expanded to other diseases). 

ECDC will also continue to provide guidelines for the development and improvement of prevention and control 
programmes in Member States.  

Key determinants of communicable diseases (e.g. environmental determinants and climatic conditions) will be 
further integrated into ECDC’s work and monitored to support the Member States’ prevention and control activities, 
more emphasis being placed on the behavioural aspects of diseases.  

The permanent EU Health Task Force (EUHTF) will support countries with emergency preparedness and response 
planning, local response to outbreaks of communicable diseases or diseases of unknown origin, and after-action 
reviews. The Centre will facilitate support through the EUHTF in countries at the request of Member States and 
third countries, the European Commission (DG ECHO, DG SANTE, DG RTD, DG HERA), and GOARN. The EUHTF will 
operate in close collaboration with DG SANTE, DG ECHO, and the Member States. Already in 2023, a service-level 
agreement between ECDC and DG ECHO facilitated collaboration in the context of European Humanitarian 
Response Capacity (EHRC) and European Union Civil Protection (UCPM) mechanisms. ECDC will draw both on 
internal and external expert resources and networks, including EPIET and EUPHEM. The EUHTF will also support 
the implementation of the cross-border health threats Regulation and facilitate work in countries regarding 
minimum requirements for preparedness planning. 

Strengthening health systems and workforce competencies in key areas such as emergency preparedness and response, 
e-health, bioinformatics, and prevention – as required under ECDC’s amended mandate – will imply continuous 
investment in the training programmes and activities coordinated by ECDC. Furthermore, the Centre will need to provide 
support to training programmes managed by the European Commission. Efforts will also be required to coordinate with 
key stakeholders (both at the national and international level) to ensure complementarity and efficiency. 

The continuous professional development (CPD) offered by ECDC will evolve based on a systematic approach. 
Moreover, CPD will also be organised for external audiences. Existing competency frameworks will continue to be 
used and promoted for the curricular development of the CPD and ECDC Fellowship Programme. Systematic 
approaches for training needs assessment in the different areas covered by ECDC’s mandate will be essential to 
collect the necessary evidence to inform a regularly updated and tailored CPD training offer. 

It is envisaged that a progressive modernisation of the ECDC Virtual Academy (EVA) platform, which hosts all ECDC 
learning activities, will make it more accessible and attract an increasing number of learners to the open access 
opportunities. Enhanced branding and a multi-tenant architecture, enabling different groups of users to share 
common access to the platform, will also make it possible for other national and international training partners to 
host some of their training courses. 

The ECDC Fellowship Programme (EPIET/EUPHEM) will continue to implement the roadmap for improvements 
resulting from the latest external evaluation. This will include running the programme with an updated and more 
flexible curriculum that takes into consideration the lessons learnt from recent experience and from competency 
frameworks in applied infectious disease epidemiology and public health microbiology. The diverse level of 
engagement of countries in the programme will be further analysed and will be the basis for national action plans. 
ECDC may support countries to tailor our training offer to their needs, recognising that other training 
formats/programmes may need to be prioritised. 

Lastly, accreditation of the ECDC Fellowship Programme under TEPHINET may be sought during the period 
2024−2026, as a mechanism for quality assurance. 

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Strategic Objective 4: Streamline coordination and 
collaboration with Member States, EU institutions, and other 
ECDC key partners in the EU and worldwide 
During the period 2024−2026, ECDC will continue strengthening coordination and collaboration with Member 
States, EU institutions, and European partners. 

ECDC’s amended mandate will be implemented in close coordination with Member States, the Commission, and other 
partners. To make this possible the existing consultation and coordination mechanisms between ECDC and its main 
partners have to be critically reviewed and adjusted, as necessary. The outcome of ECDC’s stakeholder 
satisfaction/engagement survey will provide further guidance on this work.  

Between 2024 and 2026, the work to strengthen the role of the National Coordinators in the Coordinating Competent 
Bodies will continue, based on the review of roles, responsibilities and interactions in 2023. A similar review of other roles 
(Operational Focal Points, National Focal Points) and their overall interactions with ECDC will be carried out, if relevant. 

Maintaining close relations and improving coordination with EU institutions and bodies will continue to be important 
in order to reinforce the EU Health Security Framework. Seamless coordination with the European Commission (DG 
SANTE, DG HERA, DG ECHO, DG NEAR, DG INTPA, DG RTD) and the European External Action Service (EEAS) is 
crucial to ensure that ECDC’s actions are aligned with EU priorities and policy objectives.  

ECDC will aim to further strengthen its relations with the European Parliament and, following the elections in 2024, the Centre 
will focus on building close relations with the new Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) and 
its members. Close contact will also be maintained with the Council, as well as with other European stakeholders.  

Continued close collaboration and sharing of best practices with the EU agencies is also a priority in the coming 
years, particularly as regards the agencies working in health-related matters (EMA, EFSA, EUDA, EEA including the 
European Climate and Health Observatory, and ECHA). This will include collaboration through the establishment of 
bilateral working arrangements with those agencies where no such arrangements are in place or where existing 
arrangements need to be updated to take into account the provisions of the amended mandate. ECDC will continue 
to collaborate and share best scientific practices with other EU agencies through its participation in the EU 
Agencies Network on Scientific Advice (EU ANSA). 

The capacities and capabilities to address infectious diseases across Europe vary among Member States. In the 
context of ECDC’s work on Targeted Country Support (TCS), the Centre will continue to collect in-depth knowledge 
of the Member States, in order to provide tailored support to countries according to their needs. It will also 
facilitate exchange between Member States with strengths and those with vulnerabilities in similar topic areas. 
However, to target its support, ECDC must achieve a profound knowledge of all EU/EEA countries.  

By the end of 2026, the key components of the TCS that will be in place and fully functional include:  
• 

Country overviews: compilation, visualisation of a set of indicators grouped into seven areas (country and health 
governance; workforce capacity; surveillance systems; disease programmes; emergency preparedness and 
response to public health emergencies; microbiology laboratories; and digital public health). Data on these 
indicators are either already collected by ECDC or available in public sources; after agreement with Member States 
user-friendly content might be made available on ECDC’s portal in order to ‘give back’ the data and provide some 
evidence for action at the Member-State level. Prior to publishing, all the content will be discussed with the 
respective Member States. Internal country overviews will include an analysis, act as an ‘information hub’ and 
inform the planning of the Single Programming Document. The content and the supporting IT tool will be regularly 
updated and improved, and technologies such as AI will be used to make the most of the available reports. 
Corporate approach to country mission and network meeting reports: use of new digital tools to analyse the 
information from the reports more efficiently for knowledge management and follow-up actions. These will 
be fully integrated into the country overviews. Special focus will be placed on the ECDC Director’s missions, 
with a view to learning about country needs and establishing in-depth collaboration. 
Updating and sharing a list of selected EU funding programmes and instruments with the Member States: a 
regularly updated list of potential funding opportunities will be collected by ECDC, coordinated with DG 
SANTE, and shared with the Member States. This will facilitate access and contribute to awareness of 
existing instruments, programmes and calls. 
Informing the planning of the Single Programming Document: country overviews and their analysis will be 
fully integrated into the planning of ECDC’s Single Programming Document so that evidence-based planning 
can become a routine practice at ECDC. 
A TCS cycle as a regular practice: this represents the process that starts with the country overview analysis, 
with relevant information from the country mission and network meeting reports (including reports from the 
visits under Article 8 of the SCBTH Regulation). This is complemented by the input of ECDC experts. It is 
followed by a direct bilateral dialogue with each of the Member States to discuss and validate the country 
overview analysis and seek interest in possible joint support activities. The result is used to inform the 
Single Programming Document and annual work programme planning at ECDC. 

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The key to implementing the above components is working with the CCB National Coordinators and Directors.  

From a global point of view, the landscape of health security has shifted in recent years and is now being shaped by the 
aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing anti-microbial resistance, climate change, environmental degradation, 
and the geopolitical dimension of the war in Ukraine. This new reality reminds us that, in an increasingly interconnected 
world, the infectious disease burden must be tackled jointly with our partners in the EU and in the world. Global health 
security preparedness has become an essential pillar of ECDC’s international relations framework under its new mandate. 
Addressing global health security requires coherence at the EU level. Thanks to its technical partnerships at the European 
and global level, ECDC will provide a forum for key partners to work together and coordinate their efforts towards safety 
and security from infectious disease threats. 

More specifically, ECDC will further enhance collaboration with WHO and other international partners. Moreover, in 
line with EU policies and priorities, the Centre will strengthen its work with countries neighbouring the EU to 
enhance their core public health capacities, needed to identify and contain outbreaks before they spread. 

ECDC will also facilitate communication and exchange of technical information and expertise between EU and non-
EU experts. This will help the international and field response via the EU Health Task Force which, in turn, will 
strengthen global health security by providing operational outbreak response and crisis preparedness support. 

ECDC’s efforts to establish formal bilateral arrangements, joint collaborative activities, and networking to enable 
the sharing of expertise and good practices have proved beneficial for fostering and operationalising efficient 
cooperation and coordination with major national public health institutes and Centres for Disease Prevention and 
Control in third countries. These efforts will continue during the period 2024−2026. 

More specifically, ECDC will work with countries and partners outside the EU to strengthen their prevention, 
preparedness and response capacities, thereby effectively contributing to health security in the EU by: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

gradually integrating the Western Balkans and Türkiye into ECDC systems and networks according to their 
level of readiness and the EU enlargement policy6 priorities through the external financial assistance under 
the Instrument of Pre-accession Assistance (IPA). ECDC will initiate preparatory measures for the 
participation of the new EU candidate countries Ukraine and Moldova in the Centre’s work; 
providing tailored support to European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) countries according to identified 
vulnerabilities and needs in line with the ENP7 priorities through external financial assistance under the EU 
Initiative on Health Security8 (Neighbourhood, Development, and International Cooperation Instrument – Global 
Europe - NDICI – Global Europe); 
actively partnering with major CDCs in third countries at bilateral level and in the context of the network of 
major CDCs - including rapid exchange of information in crisis situations and established and operational 
technical partnership with Africa CDC under the externally funded project ECDC4AfricaCDC; 
strengthening coordination, collaboration and joint actions with WHO via a renewed and strengthened 
memorandum of understanding, the co-publishing agreement and the updated data sharing agreement with 
the WHO Regional Office for Europe; defining a framework for technical cooperation with other WHO 
Regional Offices including the Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean; the WHO Hub for Pandemic 
and Epidemic Intelligence; and the WHO European Centre for Preparedness for Humanitarian and Health 
Emergencies (PHHE); 
establishing partnerships with international players active in the global health security arena, including 
better coordination with EU partners and exploring the need for formalised partnerships with international 
organisations and multilateral institutions (e.g. UN organisations and the International Association of 
National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI)). 

6 EU candidate countries and potential candidates under EU enlargement policy include countries in the Western Balkans (Albania, 
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia), Türkiye, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. *This 
designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo 
Declaration of Independence. 
7 European Neighbourhood Policy partner countries include Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine** and 
Tunisia in the South and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine in the East. **This designation shall not be construed 
as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of the Member States on this issue. 
8 EU candidate countries and potential candidates participate in the EU Initiative on Health Security through the Mediterranean 
and Black Sea Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (MediPIET). 

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Strategic Objective 5: Create an acknowledged, agile 
organisation through efficient systems, structures and 
processes and skilled staff 
By the end of 2026, ECDC will be able to effectively implement its strengthened mandate based on the amended 
ECDC Strategy and its Implementation Roadmap. Furthermore, ECDC will be better equipped to take data-driven 
management decisions and operate in a fast-changing environment (e.g. a public health emergency). The ECDC 
organisational transformation programme - ASPIRE - will be finalised during the period 2024−2026. This 
programme will address all the organisational elements affected by the amended mandate: processes to produce 
the services and outputs required by the amended legislation will be reviewed, optimised and digitalised as 
relevant; human resource action will be taken to obtain and retain the required competencies; a framework will be 
defined for the management of ECDC stakeholders; and organisational values will be reviewed to accommodate the 
new way of working, both internally and with our closest partners and stakeholders. 

These actions will be complemented by the implementation of ECDC’s Integrated Management Framework (IMF) 
Roadmap and the development and implementation of a comprehensive framework in the area of human resources 
management. Many of these activities are supported by flexible support services and IT tools for the entire 
organisation. The strengthening of internal communication will be a crucial element in this change process as staff 
need to receive all the relevant information on ongoing and future changes in the organisation – and the rationale 
behind them. More specific details are set out below. 
• 

During the period 2024−2026, the implementation of the IMF Roadmap will be finalised. The new planning and 
monitoring system (PRIME) will be fully implemented. This system – in collaboration with the single points of 
contact (SPOCs) in all units – will support the harmonisation and simplification of planning and monitoring in the 
organisation. It will also enhance management decision-making by providing timely integrated 
reports/dashboards on the implementation of the annual workplan, related human and financial resources, 
procurement procedures and meetings. This information will be complemented by the revised Key Performance 
Indicators (KPIs), including strategic and more long-term KPIs providing information on the results and impact of 
ECDC’s work. Regular stakeholder satisfaction surveys will provide valuable data for this purpose (the next survey 
is planned for 2024, however this may need to be reviewed, given the external evaluation of ECDC which is 
foreseen for 2025). During the period 2024−2026, ECDC will also be finalising the implementation of a 
ISO9001:2005-based quality management system throughout the organisation, with the first annual quality 
management report issued in 2025. 

• 

• 

ECDCs efforts will continue in further developing and implementing its People@ECDC framework and these 
efforts will gather pace throughout the period 2024−2026. The People@ECDC framework encompasses all 
areas of human resources management and services, including organisational development, health and 
wellbeing, performance management, learning and development, talent management (recruitment and 
internal mobility), employee experience (e.g. benefits), and diversity and inclusion. Emphasis will be placed 
on building internal expert capacity and attracting the best experts in the fields of competence needed to 
fulfil the Centre’s revised mandate, strategy and work programme.  

The Centre aims to manage responsive support services that enable operational excellence while ensuring 
compliance. This entails providing an efficient suite of services consisting of procurement (goods and 
services available in the right quality, quantity, on time); corporate services (efficient business travel and 
event management, environmental sustainability, healthy and safe workspace, mailroom and archives); 
legal services (advisory services, legal complaints, implementation of the independence policies, public 
access to documents, data protection, third party agreements, supporting on ethics issues); as well as 
financial services and accounting (budget planning and execution). 

In corporate services, the Centre will continue to implement its revised strategy to better support its activities through 
new ways of working, by adjusting its physical and digital workspaces to meet the demands of an evolving and secure 
organisation, by continuing to implement the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), and improving its support 
for event and business travel management. The roll-out of the European Commission’s next generation financial 
management solution (SUMMA) will be the focus of the Centre’s financial management services. 

ECDC will continue to implement its internal communication policy, with the aim of delivering a holistic view of the 
organisation, supporting change management initiatives through communication, revitalising the Centre’s organisational 
culture, promoting employee advocacy, strengthening employer branding and helping staff connect beyond work.  

These efforts will help ECDC communicate internally in an efficient and proactive manner, creating a greater 
understanding of its mission and strategic priorities among staff, and helping them to feel motivated and fulfilled as 
part of the overall organisation. ECDC will continue to strengthen its internal communication channels and 
practices, while providing effective platforms and forums to inform, connect, and listen to staff. 

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ECDC will continue to foster a more holistic approach to internal information management. The Centre will also 
continue to support and participate in communities of practice, together with other EU agencies and institutions in 
the area of internal communication. 

2.2 Indicators of the multiannual programme 2024−2026 
Indicators of the multi-annual programme are designed to measure the expected results and impact of ECDC activities on 
their target audiences. The target values are set to capture the results and impact from a multi-annual perspective.  

Key performance indicators to measure outputs and results achieved in the main areas of ECDC’s interventions and 
to address each of ECDC Strategic Objectives are provided as part of Section 3. Work Programme 2024.  

Table 1. Key performance indicators for the multiannual programme 2024−2026 

Strategic KPI 

Baseline 
(2022) 

Target 

Means of 
verification 

Frequency of 
verification 

Stakeholder satisfaction with ECDC scientific outputs 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Surveillance 
Microbiology 
Preparedness and response 
Public health training 
Communication  
Antimicrobial consumption, antimicrobial resistance, 
and healthcare-associated infections  
Emerging and vector-borne diseases 
Food and waterborne diseases and zoonoses 
STI, blood-borne viruses and TB (SBT) 
Viral respiratory diseases 
Vaccine-preventable diseases 

Uptake of ECDC scientific outputs 

• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 

• 

Success in addressing the public health threats/issues 
Changes in legislation  
Changes in national policies  
Improvements or corrective measures in your public 
health systems (including IT systems) 
Changes in national guidance/recommendations 
Communication with your target audience (e.g. 
decision-makers, media, public, healthcare workers) 
Discussion with peers and colleagues (inside or outside 
your organisation). 

83% 
80% 
90% 
92% 
90% 
79% 

92% 
86% 
94% 
89% 
67% 

56% 
32% 
44% 
47% 

58% 
69% 

74% 

TBC 

Stakeholder 
survey 

Biennial 

TBC 

Stakeholder 
survey 

Biennial 

Overall stakeholder satisfaction with the work of 
ECDC 

86% 

70% 

Stakeholder 
survey 

Biennial 

Level of laboratory capacity reached in Member 
States: EULabCap Index for EU/EEA countries (mean 
national EULabCap index + potentially inter-country index 
variation) 

Percentage of ECDC staff engagement 

EULabCap: 
7.8 mean 
national 
index 
(2018) 

61% 
(2021) 

0.3 points 
increase 

EULabCap 
surveys 

Biennial or 
triennial 

75% 

Data collected 
through HR 
survey 

Biennial (next 
survey is in Q1 
2024) 

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2.3 Human and financial resources – outlook for the years 
2024−2026 

2.3.1 Overview of the past and current situation  

Following the approval of the Multi-Annual Financial Framework 2021−2027, the budget foreseen for the Centre for 
2024, including the provisional EEA/EFTA contribution, amounts to EUR 92 881 000, of which EUR 39 393 000 is 
for its operational expenditure. The expected number of statutory staff in 2024 is 353 (TAs and CAs) and five SNEs. 
In addition, the Centre will have around 30 CA posts to support projects funded by EU grants. 

2.3.2 Outlook for the years 2024−2026  

New tasks 

Based on the text of the amended ECDC Founding Regulation that entered into force on 6 December 2022, the 
following tasks are new (shortened from the legal text): 

• 
• 

• 

• 
• 

• 

• 

• 
• 

• 

• 

• 

Develop relevant common indicators for standardised data collection procedures and risk assessments. 
Monitor health systems capacity of Member States and support the collection of data on their health system 
capacity to the extent necessary for the management of and response to communicable disease threats and 
related special health issues, based on the preparedness indicators (Article 5b (2) of the ECDC Founding 
Regulation, and Article 7 (1) of SCBTH Regulation). 
Organise on-site visits in Member States, on a case-by-case basis to provide additional support for 
prevention, preparedness and response activities (Article 5(b)), and carry out country assessment missions 
under Article 8 of the SCBTH Regulation. 
Support national monitoring of response to major communicable diseases. 
Provide guidelines, recommendations and proposals for coordinated action in the surveillance, monitoring, 
diagnosis and case management of communicable diseases and related health issues, and support for 
professional networks to improve treatment guidelines in cooperation with relevant organisations and 
associations, national competent bodies and international organisations, such as WHO. 
Carry out epidemiological modelling, anticipation, forecasting and scenario development for response, and 
coordinate such efforts with a view to exchanging best practices, improving modelling capacity across the 
Union and ensuring international cooperation. 
Support epidemic and outbreak response in Member States and in third countries (e.g. through the EU 
Health Task Force) in cooperation with WHO, and in a manner that is complementary to, and in close 
coordination with other emergency response instruments, in particular the EU Civil Protection Mechanism 
(UCPM), and relevant instruments for the stockpiling of medical countermeasures. 
Help strengthen preparedness capacities under the IHR, including training, in Member States and third countries. 
Provide timely, easily accessible, and evidence-based communication messages to the public, in all official 
languages of the EU, on communicable diseases and threats to health posed by communicable diseases, as 
well as relevant prevention and control measures. 
Ensure the integrated operation of a network of EU Reference Laboratories and the operation and 
coordination of the network of Member State services supporting the use of substances of human origin. 
Coordinate independent post-marketing monitoring studies on the effectiveness and safety of vaccines 
through a new vaccine monitoring platform (joint task with EMA). 
Establish and maintain the EU Health Task Force. 

The amended Strategy Implementation Roadmap, which will be presented to the ECDC Management Board in 
November 2023 for approval, shows the annual milestones for the implementation of existing and new tasks until 
2027 for each Strategic Objective. With the amended Funding Regulation, ECDC’s establishment table increased by 
73 posts, the last five of which will be filled in 2024.  

Growth of existing tasks 

Some of the areas mentioned above could be labelled as growth of existing tasks rather than new tasks: e.g. 
surveillance, preparedness and prevention. 

Negative priorities/decrease of existing tasks 

None. 

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2.3.3 Resource programming for the years 2024−2026 
Financial resources 

The ECDC budget proposed for the years 2024–2026 is in line with the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021–
2027, which sets the EU contribution for decentralised agencies. The budget is expected to enable the Centre to provide 
planned services and assistance to both the Commission and the Member States. DG SANTE has clarified that agencies 
do not need to provide financial programming for the period 2025–2027 at this stage. 

Human resources 

Given the Centre’s revised mandate, and in view of the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the workload will 
remain high over the next few years. Furthermore, the work on externally-funded projects will remain resource-
intensive, entailing administrative complexities that will need careful attention. In terms of core staffing, 2024 is 
the last year of the Centre’s planned growth. During 2024, the remaining five posts will be filled of the 73 new 
posts received between 2021 and 2024. More detailed information about the evolution of staffing is provided in 
Annex 4. Table 1 – Staff population and its evolution - Overview of all categories of staff. 

2.3.4 Strategy for achieving efficiency gains 

ECDC is continuing its efforts to make efficiency gains and continuous improvements. This will be done through the 
implementation of the Integrated Management Framework (covering internal and external governance, 
organisational performance management, quality management, and internal control) together with related IT tools 
and the joint initiatives carried out with Finance, Procurement, and Human Resources. This work is foreseen to 
continue over the next few years and to be finalised by 2027.  

During the period 2024–2026, the optimisation of ECDC’s key processes – in line with ECDC’s amended mandate - 
will be finalised. The process management methodology and supporting IT tool will be fully implemented. In the 
coming years, the relevant key processes will also be digitalised to minimise use of resources in terms of paper and 
time, and to enhance data management. Streamlining the planning process and enhancing the monitoring of 
organisational performance through an integrated planning and monitoring IT system will further increase the 
efficiency of the Centre. The full implementation of the planning and monitoring system will start in 2024. 
Furthermore, the implementation of the ISO 9001:2005 based quality management system will enhance the 
effectiveness and efficiency of the Centre.  

The Agency will also enhance the revised system for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to improve the monitoring 
of ECDC’s performance, achievement of Strategic Objectives, and the performance of processes/execution cycles 
across services. Through this revision, ECDC also aims to have a set of KPIs that support decision-making and 
communication across the Centre and, ideally, the monitoring of ECDC’s impact on its target audiences. 

In all of these areas the Centre continues to work closely with the EU Agencies’ Performance Development Network 
(PDN), a forum that facilitates the achievement of efficiency gains through benchmarking and the exchange of best 
practices, methods and IT tools. 

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3. Work Programme 2024 

3.1 Executive summary  
During 2024, ECDC’s work will focus on implementing the amended mandate, while ensuring that core, recurring 
activities are not neglected. The Agency will also review previously started projects and programmes against 
strategic priorities and, where appropriate, ensure the next phase of implementation.  

With regard to the strengthened mandate, the main highlights of ECDC’s workplan in 2024 are set out below. 

• 

• 

• 

In the area of preparedness and response, ECDC will adjust its core activities to carry out its new responsibilities 
and support countries in the best possible way. This will be largely facilitated through the EU Health Task Force. 
In terms of surveillance, ECDC will support Member States in strengthening their surveillance systems through 
capacity-building initiatives, eHealth-based surveillance and support for the implementation of the Commission 
EU4Health workplan on surveillance. Moreover, ECDC will support the Commission with the transition to the EU 
reference laboratory system, strengthening laboratory capacity and collaboration within the EU. 
ECDC will also settle into its role of delivering guidelines and scientific advice on the management of 
communicable diseases and related issues, with a focus on strengthening the relevance, accessibility, and 
utility of its advice, informed by epidemiological modelling, foresight, and scenario development, to foster 
evidence-based policymaking. 

In terms of recurring activities: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

ECDC will continue to define and apply standards to ensure the integrity, reliability, and independence of its 
scientific outputs. Similarly, the Agency will continue to organise ESCAIDE and Eurosurveillance will continue 
to present sound evidence for public health action and policymaking. 
ECDC will continue to improve its visibility and reputation by engaging its stakeholders through targeted 
communication campaigns. Initiatives such as European Antibiotic Awareness Day, European Immunization 
Week and the Flu Awareness Campaign will be organised for other areas – such as HIV, TB, and certain 
emerging vector-borne diseases. Coordination and cooperation with the Centre’s European partners, major 
CDCs, and WHO’s Regional Office for Europe will also continue. 
The Centre will also continue to provide Targeted Country Support (TCS). Member States will be supported 
in their prevention and control activities and capacity development. TCS will also be improved – e.g. in 2024 
country overviews will be introduced to assess Member State needs and vulnerabilities. Based on these 
country overviews, bilateral discussions will be piloted with Member States to investigate whether ECDC can 
offer support or indicate funding opportunities. 
In terms of training, ECDC’s two core activities (the Fellowship Programme and the Continuous Professional 
Development (CPD)) will continue, while also being subject to improvements. In 2024, ECDC’s experts will 
be more closely involved in the implementation of the Fellowship, to align training courses with the methods 
and expertise of the Centre. In addition, the contents of the CPD will be adjusted to take into account the 
lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic. 
The Centre will continue to provide support and learning opportunities for its staff, while continuing to 
optimise its online and physical workspaces.  

In terms of ongoing projects and programmes: 

• 

• 

• 

The ECDC Prevention Framework will continue to be developed. Furthermore, in 2024 surveillance resources 
will be dedicated to completing tools, such as EpiPulse Cases. Additional versions of the Epidemic 
Intelligence dashboard will be launched with the aim of providing different audiences with an overview of 
ongoing threats. Moreover, the Centre will finalise the implementation of the strategy to integrate genomic-
based epidemiology into European surveillance. 
In addition, the Integrated Management Framework (IMF) Roadmap, which supports ECDC in achieving 
organisational excellence, will continue to be implemented. In particular, a new planning and monitoring 
system will be launched to improve performance, coordination, cooperation, and resource allocation. 
Finally, in 2024 ECDC’s Foresight programme will begin delivering inputs for future-proof decision-making. 
More specifically, future scenarios will be developed based on drivers of change in the realm of infectious 
diseases, and futures/systems thinking will be integrated into the Centre’s modus operandi. 

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3.2 Activities 

Strategic Objective 1: Maintain the independence and rigour of 
scientific processes and strengthen the relevance and accessibility of 
scientific outputs to support public health policies and practices at 
national and EU levels 

Table 2. Indicators for Strategic Objective 1 

KPI 

Baseline 
(2022) 

Target 

Means of verification 

Frequency of 
verification 

Scientific quality assurance: 
proportion of ECDC’s scientific 
outputs following the respective 
workflows, formally reviewed 
and cleared before 
dissemination 

Attendees’ satisfaction with 
ESCAIDE 

99.5% 

100% 

SARMS workflows, 
publication statistics 

Annual 

94% 

> 75% 

Conference satisfaction 
survey 

Annual 

IF 21 (Journal 
Citation Reports, 
Clarivate analytics, 
2022) #5/95 Scopus 
CiteScore 22 
(Scopus), #3/562 
category Medicine 
(Public Health, 
Environmental and 
Occupational Health), 
#4/108 Medicine 
(Epidemiology); 
SCImago Journal 
Rank (SJR): 
#45/2,489 journals in 
the category 
‘Medicine 
miscellaneous’) 

Submissions received 
from 33 of 36 
countries represented 
by an advisor on the 
journal’s editorial 
board 

Placement of Eurosurveillance in 
journal rankings (basket of 
metrics) 

Submissions from 
‘Eurosurveillance’ countries 

Use of ECDC scientific outputs: 
- access to ECDC scientific 
outputs (number of citations) 
- impact factor of ECDC articles 
in peer-reviewed journals 

52.42 
10.83 

Report on knowledge 
gaps and research 
priorities in respect 
of COVID-19 
prevention and 
control, as perceived 
by experts working at 
ECDC, in national 
public health 
institutes, and in 
other ECDC 
collaborating partner 
organisations. 

EU research and innovation 
engagement 

26 

Q1 in all 
metrics and 
5-year IF 
ranging 
between 6 
and 10 

SCIMAGO journal rank, 
Google Scholar journal 
rank, Clarivate analytics, 
CiteScore 

Annual 

Submission 
from 
minimum 20 
countries 

>20 in the 
five years 
following 
publication 
>5 

Knowledge 
gaps and 
research 
priorities 
identified for 
at least two 
topic areas 

Eurosurveillance 
submission system 

Annual 

Journals 

Annual 

ECDC 
content/outputs/reports 

Annual 

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KPI 

Baseline 
(2022) 

Target 

Means of verification 

Frequency of 
verification 

Number of media clippings and 
media requests 

24 460 clippings 
471 requests 

10% increase 

Media monitoring report 
from external contractor, 
requests received on the 
press inbox 

Annual 

Google analytics 

Annual 

45 157 11 
22 677 30 
2 473 47 
40% 

10% increase 
7% increase 
7% increase 
at least 40% 

Website statistics: 
- page views, 
- website sessions, 
- document downloads, 
- returning visitors. 

Stakeholder engagement: 
Number of actions in which 
communication stakeholders are 
engaged: 
- NFP meetings 
- meetings ahead of European 
Antibiotic Awareness Day 
- digital and on-site 
events/visits, 
- information stands. 

Social media statistics: 
- Twitter followers for the ECDC 
corporate account, 
- Twitter followers for the 
outbreaks account, 
- Followers on Facebook 

One NFP meeting 
10 meetings with 
stakeholders 
Five events/visits 

0 

105 764 
25 881 
273 361 

ECDC website, 
Information Centre, EAAD 
statistics 

Annual 

One 

At least eight 

At least three 

At least three 

20% increase 

Social media channels 

Annual 

Communication campaigns 

Eight 

At least five 

ECDC website 

Audio-visual content 

201 outputs 

3% increase 

Social media and ECDC 
website 

Annual 

Annual 

Action Area 1.1 – Standards and methodologies: promote standard 
setting and the use of defined methodologies and diverse data 
sources for data analytics 

Overview 

In 2024, ECDC will follow up on the clarification and revision of its scientific advice processes – carried out in 2023 
in line with Article 7 of the ECDC mandate ‘Procedure on scientific opinions’ and will continue to implement the 
ECDC impact assessment framework, developed in 2023.  

The Centre will define, apply and promote standards for all its key surveillance and scientific advice outputs to 
ensure integrity, methodological rigour and reliability. This will be done through the continuous professional 
development of its staff, to ensure that they are up-to-date with scientific standards, policies and methods - and by 
promoting a culture of continuous learning and quality improvement.  

ECDC will continue to improve its internal tools, such as the Scientific Advice Repository and Management System 
(SARMS), to support transparency, scientific independence and compliance with integrity policies and standards, 
and to further enhance the Centre’s scientific quality assurance processes. ECDC will also promote the use of IRIS 
and impact assessment frameworks to engage key stakeholders and networks in a more structured and systematic 
manner. This will allow ECDC to better understand needs and expectations, improve planning, and further enhance 
the relevance and impact of its work and outputs. 

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Main outputs and expected results 

No. 

1.1.1 

List of planned and ongoing scientific outputs 2024 
including the intended target audience and impact.  

Main outputs 

Expected results 

1.1.2  Revision of ECDC scientific advice process and 

Regulation (EU) 2022/2370 Article 7 Procedure for 
scientific opinions finalised and communicated 
internally and externally. 

1.1.3  Guidance and training on scientific integrity, good 
scientific practice, methods and tools for evidence 
synthesis, statistical analysis. 

1.1.4 

Extensive use of the IRIS prioritisation framework 
beyond the ECDC Advisory Forum. 

Key parameters on planned and ongoing scientific 
outputs made available to further increase 
transparency, avoid duplication of work, and 
inform of the intended impact.  
Guiding principles and processes, including 
template and procedure for requesting an ECDC 
scientific opinion, clarified and operational to 
further increase transparency and efficiency.  
Continuous internal professional development and 
training for staff to stay up-to-date on the latest 
scientific standards, processes, and methods and 
to nurture a culture of continuous learning. 
Increase the use of structured consultation and 
prioritisation exercises across ECDC to guarantee 
the relevance and impact of the work. 

Resources 

1.1 Standards and methodologies 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

7.1 

548 400 

Action Area 1.2 – Knowledge transfer: bridge the gap between 
science, policy, and practice 

Overview 

Concerning knowledge transfer, ECDC’s objectives for 2024 are the following: 

• 

• 

• 
• 
• 

• 
• 

Ensure the production and wide dissemination of Eurosurveillance as a diamond, open access high-quality 
journal with good visibility. 
Contribute targeted knowledge transfer to Eurosurveillance readers and contributors, including ECDC 
experts through provision of public health-relevant context in the journal’s interaction with science 
journalists, presence at conferences, provision of training materials and activities, as well as an attractive 
annual theme and scientific seminar. 
Organise and deliver the Observership week 2024. 
Organise the annual European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology (ESCAIDE). 
Design and deliver custom information and knowledge management solutions that improve access to and 
flow of knowledge.  
Ensure that ECDC’s key scientific outputs reach their target audience and are accessible at no cost to the user.  
Continue strengthening ECDC’s scientific output templates by making them more relevant, accessible and 
actionable for policymakers and other stakeholders at the European and national level. 

Main outputs and expected results 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

No. 

1.2.1 

A total of 50 issues of Eurosurveillance.  
Scientific seminar at international conference.  
Board meeting with action points for 2025. 

Eurosurveillance remains among the leading 
journals in its field, attractive to a wide audience 
(authors and readers) and supporting knowledge 
transfer.  
Availability of new scientific findings of relevance 
to public health professionals working in Member 
States. 
Increased awareness of publication ethics and 
standards reporting guidelines, compliance with 
editorial standards/requirements by authors and 
reviewers, use of repositories for additional 
information, enhanced focus on key public health 
messages. 

1.2.2  Workshops on the margins of ECDC-organised 

events (ESCAIDE, ECDC summer school, 
traineeship project review module) at ECDC or at 
national public health institutes.  
Podcast pilot (2-3). 

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Single Programming Document 2024−2026 

No. 
1.2.3 

ECDC Observership week in collaboration with 
European learned societies. 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

1.2.4 

2024 edition of the ESCAIDE conference in hybrid 
format.  

1.2.5 

Information and knowledge management solutions 
developed to improve the management of 
knowledge domains that are mission-critical to 
ECDC. 

1.2.6 

ECDC scientific outputs published on the Centre’s 
website and/or as open access publications if 
published in peer-review scientific journals. 

1.2.7 

At least one scientific category template 
redesigned in consultation with ECDC staff and 
stakeholders. 
Guidance and supporting materials produced to 
support ECDC scientific staff in using the new 
templates. 

A total of 30 early and mid-career researchers 
and health professionals gain interest in public 
health matters and insights into how ECDC 
contributes to European and global public health. 
Dissemination of scientific knowledge in the area 
of communicable disease epidemiology, 
prevention and control, and complementary 
disciplines. 
Improved knowledge and awareness among 
ESCAIDE participants of knowledge needed for 
policymaking and practice. 
ECDC will be better able to leverage its existing 
experience and expertise.  
Mission-critical knowledge assets will be managed 
and curated systematically. There will be 
improved access to key knowledge resources. 
ECDC newcomers will be able to leverage ECDC 
organisational expertise more easily. 
Making high-quality scientific outputs available at 
no cost across the EU will help to increase the 
impact and consistency of evidence-based 
prevention and control activities across the EU 
and reduce the need for Member States to invest 
in similar scientific work. 
Transmission of ECDC’s scientific knowledge to 
external stakeholders (both expert and non-
expert) in an accessible and useful manner.  

Resources 

1.2 Knowledge transfer 

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

21.9 

1 592 700 

Action Area 1.3 – Foresight, modelling, and research engagement: 
address areas of uncertainty and knowledge gaps through modelling, 
forecasting, and collaboration, and communicate identified research 
priorities with EU research initiatives and other EU bodies 

Overview 

In 2024, ECDC will continue setting up its Foresight programme to further develop the Centre’s forward-looking 
capabilities. By 2024, ECDC will have laid the groundwork for ongoing, systematic foresight actions. Drivers of change 
in the infectious disease threat landscape, their impact on ECDC’s operations and collaborations, and future scenarios 
will have been developed, providing input to strategic decision-making. Foresight and futures/systems thinking will 
become part of the regular modus operandi within ECDC, including recurring activities such as horizon scanning and 
sense-making, foresight deep-dives, and capacity-building training and workshops. Moreover, collaboration with 
European and global foresight partners in public health and interconnected areas will be further strengthened. 

ECDC will also continue with the forecast and scenario modelling hubs set up during the COVID-19 pandemic as a 
platform and forum for exchange and collaboration between modelling teams across the EU/EEA and beyond. The 
Centre will also explore the possibility of further expanding the hubs to integrate other communicable diseases and 
additional modelling teams. In addition, the ECDC modelling team will continue to develop in-house modelling tools 
and workflows for public health emergencies, to support public health decision-making and contribute with novel 
insights on infectious diseases in general. 

ECDC will continue to identify, collate, prioritise, and communicate on relevant knowledge gaps and research needs 
that hamper the certainty of scientific advice and the quality of public health policy in the EU.  

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In order to ensure a high level of impact, research engagement activities will be informed by internal and external 
consultation, and also by the workplans and strategic goals of EU partner institutions - including other EU agencies (e.g. 
EFSA, EMA), HERA, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RI/RTD) and the European Health and Digital 
Executive Agency (HaDEA). Activities will then be refined and prioritised with high-level partners - such as the Advisory 
Forum - before being shared with the HSC, the Commission, and relevant EU bodies or agencies, with the purpose of 
supporting the planning and priority setting of future research calls. 

As a science-led organisation, ECDC will continue to engage with ongoing EU research activities in areas within its 
mandate to ensure that it has access to emerging science and retains and enhances contacts and credibility within 
the scientific community, including academia. Direct involvement with ongoing EU-funded public health research 
also helps ECDC to direct research towards public health needs and retain a credible voice in EU policymaking. 

Main outputs and expected results 

No. 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

1.3.1  Regular foresight/futures activities and consultations 

1.3.2 

Foresight report 

1.3.3 

Forecast and scenario modelling hubs 

1.3.4  Modelling tools and workflows for public health 

emergencies.  
Modelling insight generation. 

1.3.5  Research priorities report and presentation 
1.3.6 

Topic-specific technical report, summarising existing 
knowledge gaps, ongoing EU research efforts, and 
suggested action to address and improve the 
knowledge base. 
Coordination of ECDC staff involved with EU-funded 
science. 

1.3.7 

Capacity building in relevant foresight methods, 
futures thinking, and systems approaches, as 
well as input for interventions and decision-
making (e.g. from scanning activities). 
Alignment of foresight activities with the needs 
of the whole of ECDC and its partners. 
Report on possible future threat scenarios for 
ECDC’s mission and European public health to 
inform policy and strategy options for ECDC 
and its partners.  
Ensemble forecasts and scenarios inform ECDC 
scientific outputs (such as rapid risk 
assessments and public health guidance). 
Providing in-house modelling results to support 
public health decision-making (e.g. HSC, DG 
SANTE). 
Timely information to EU research and funding 
bodies on public health relevant knowledge 
gaps and priority areas identified for research. 

Resources 

1.3 Foresight, modelling and research 
engagement 

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

11.5 

1 490 000 

Action Area 1.4 – External and risk communication: provide relevant, 
timely, accessible and actionable information on infectious disease 
epidemiology, prevention and control. 

Overview 

Through its communication activities in 2024, ECDC will continue to strengthen its reputation as an independent 
and high-quality scientific organisation. The Centre will continue to ensure that its outputs are relevant and easily 
available for all its target audiences. 

The brand audit is expected to be finalised in 2024. This will provide a good basis for determining the context of an 
upcoming re-branding exercise and further public relations activities to continue improving ECDC’s visibility. The 
Centre will continue to highlight its role, the impact of its extended mandate, and its added value in the European 
public health sphere. 

ECDC will continue its work on risk communication by further tailoring its outputs to the needs of its target 
audiences, by explaining complex topics simply and by using a more approachable tone of voice and style across 

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platforms. Risk communication activities will also be adapted to the needs of different population groups (e.g. 
vulnerable groups, etc.). The Centre will continue to build a proper infrastructure to address misinformation, 
disinformation and infodemics management. Actions already being taken – such as social media listening, 
campaigns to promote digital literacy, careful presentation of easy-to-understand facts providing accurate 
information and the correction of erroneous messages – will be strengthened. The Centre will also continue to 
improve the user experience of its websites and to optimise the way in which it manages its social media channels. 

The development of annual integrated communication campaigns will be prioritised – including the European 
Antibiotic Awareness Day, European Immunization Week, European Testing Week, World AIDS Day, World TB Day, 
the Influenza Awareness Week, and World Hand Hygiene Day. This will be done in collaboration with the National 
Focal Points for Communication, as well as partners and stakeholders across Europe. 

ECDC will engage more proactively with journalists in Europe and internationally. ECDC will continue to provide 
journalists, editors, bloggers and influencers with accurate, timely, balanced, newsworthy, and scientifically sound 
content in response to media enquiries. It will also enhance activities for active outreach such as a media visits, 
regular press conferences, and the provision of materials under embargo, as well as the production of innovative 
materials specifically designed for this group.  

Efforts will also be made in 2024 to strengthen the European Vaccination Information Portal (EVIP) through an 
EU4Health contribution agreement with DG SANTE, including continuous and dynamic updates of the website, the 
finalisation of a study regarding vaccination information uptake and the development of new communication materials.  

The Stakeholder Engagement Framework will be established in 2024, enabling and improving dialogue between 
ECDC and its stakeholders, allowing the Centre to continue to build reputation and trust by ensuring transparency 
in its engagement activities, increasing reach, visibility and amplification of ECDC’s messages through its 
stakeholder groups, ensuring efficiency by understanding the stakeholders’ interests, and helping to find ways to 
work together towards common objectives. 

Main outputs and expected results 

No. 

1.4.1 

1.4.2 

1.4.3 

1.4.4 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

Risk, crisis and external communication content 
published across channels, including ECDC websites 
and social media. 
Communication campaigns in collaboration with 
partners and stakeholders (e.g. European Antibiotic 
Awareness Day, Flu Awareness Campaign, European 
Immunisation Week). 
Activities implemented through the Stakeholder 
Engagement Framework. 

Risk communication, community engagement, and 
infodemic management plan for ECDC. 

Improved uptake of ECDC’s information and 
outputs. 

Improved highlights of ECDC’s content and 
increased awareness of specific topics. 

Improved exchanges with stakeholders, 
leading to improved reputation and trust, and 
amplification of ECDC’s messages.  
Pathway of activities to be implemented by 
ECDC in the area of risk communication, 
community engagement, and infodemic 
management, including internal processes and 
support at country level. 

Resources 

1.4 External and risk communication 

Staff and Title 3 budget  

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

12.4 

1 626 200 

Resources (based on contribution agreements) 

1.4 External and risk communication 

Total FTEs 

Total operational budget 

Staff and budget (EU grants) 
EVIP 
2.0 

339 638 

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Strategic Objective 2: Provide relevant, reliable and timely 
information and science-based recommendations to enable evidence-
informed decision-making at national and EU level 

Table 3. Indicators for Strategic Objective 2 

KPI 

Baseline 
(2022) 

Target 

Means of 
verification 

Frequency 
of 
verification 

Stakeholder satisfaction with 
daily and weekly Communicable 
Disease Threat Reports (CDTR) 

Weekly CDTR: all indicators 
rated as good or excellent by 
100%. 

Daily CDTR: all indicators 
rated as good or excellent by 
100%, except timeliness 
(86%). 

Timely publication of updated 
surveillance data in the 
Surveillance Atlas 

13% of diseases within three 
months 

74% within five months 

80% 

Stakeholder 
survey 

Biennial 

In all, 80% of 
diseases 
within three 
months of 
end of data 
collection 

Surveillance Atlas  Annual 

Efficiency: proportion of ECDC 
scientific outputs delivered and 
external requests for scientific 
input replied to within agreed 
deadlines 

Accessibility: proportion of ECDC 
scientific manuscripts published 
as golden standard open access 

Proportion of requests for 
sequencing services from 
Member States delivered 

N/A 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

SARMS, Chrono, 
and similar 
request 
management 
systems 

Publication 
databases, 
SARMS 

Requests 
received in PHF 
by DPR 

Comprehensiveness of eHealth-
based surveillance 
implementation 

16 countries conducting 
eHealth-based surveillance 
of SARI, 18 countries 
working with BSI 

One 
additional 
disease from 
the group of 
STIs 

Project manager, 
content of 
specific contract, 
contract 
deliverables 

Annual 

Annual 

Annual 

Annual 

EpiPulse cases (EpiPulse cases 
rolled out as per plan) 

EpiPulse cases not launched 
yet 

Use of EpiPulse (number of 
posts uploaded to the platform) 

192 per month (median) 

Diseases 
included, as 
per plan 

Annual 
increase in 
number of 
posts by 5% 

EpiPulse cases 

Annual 

EpiPulse focal 
point 

Annual 

Percentage of diseases with 
integrated operational WGS 
surveillance schemes, as per 
strategic framework and annual 
planning 

WGS operational for 60% of 
diseases 

100% 

EpiPulse 

Annual 

Introduction of AI in epidemic 
intelligence processes. 

Automation of the weekly 
reports for mpox. 

One AI 
process per 
year 

Epidemic 
Intelligence 
group 

Annual 

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Single Programming Document 2024−2026 

Action Area 2.1 – Surveillance: provide timely information and robust 
evidence through surveillance and monitoring 
Overview 

In 2024, ECDC will support the European Commission in the implementation of the EU4Health programme, by 
providing technical and expert support, both to the Commission and the Member States, to correctly identify, 
prioritise and address infrastructural challenges to the integration of clinical, epidemiological, and microbiological 
data for surveillance. Particular attention will be given to help Member States address data access and data sharing 
issues, including training and tools to support the correct interpretation of the General Data Protection Regulation 
and implementation of effective data sharing mechanisms at EU level. ECDC’s main priorities in this work will 
include technical infrastructure for digitalisation of surveillance; training and capacity building for public health 
professionals; definition and support regarding the EU surveillance legal framework and strengthened surveillance 
for respiratory infections/preparation for the next pandemic. 

In 2024, ECDC will continue to develop disease-specific surveillance standards in collaboration with the EU/EEA 
disease networks. These standards will include public health surveillance objectives, the system choices required to 
achieve these objectives, such as the frequency of reporting and the variables to be collected, and also the 
minimum data quality to aspire to, and the outputs to be produced. ECDC will monitor compliance with these 
standards and develop an online dashboard to report back to the data providers and the European Commission. 

In 2024, ECDC will also complete the development of the new TESSy in EpiPulse Cases, which will facilitate data 
reporting, validation and analysis. Based on the new data warehouse, ECDC will produce enhanced interactive 
reports for most diseases under surveillance, which will progressively replace the Annual Epidemiological Report. A 
plan for replacing the Surveillance Atlas will be put in place, with the aim of developing a new dashboard with 
more advanced and flexible data query and download functions. The type and content of surveillance outputs and 
the features of the surveillance systems required to generate such outputs will be defined in surveillance protocols, 
starting from priority diseases. 

ECDC will sustain its effort to improve surveillance for epidemic-prone diseases, including integrated surveillance of 
respiratory viruses. 

For the SDG-targeted diseases, ECDC will continue to assist the Member States in developing and strengthening 
their public health surveillance and monitoring systems. More specifically, ECDC will support Member States in the 
timely reporting of data on disease diagnoses available in centralised laboratory databases, for trend monitoring 
and outbreak detection.  

In line with the new mandate and in collaboration with the Commission, ECDC will transition laboratory network 
support to an EU reference laboratory model. The transition to an EU reference laboratory system will accelerate 
collaboration and operations within the laboratory networks coordinated by the Centre. The system will strengthen 
the overall laboratory capacity that underpins EU-level surveillance, notification and reporting of diseases by 
Member States. Specifically, the EU reference laboratories will strengthen reference diagnostics, availability of 
reference material resources, external quality assessments, scientific advice and technical assistance, overall 
collaboration and research, monitoring, alert notifications, support for outbreak response and training. It is 
expected that changes in the working model for the EU-level laboratory support will increase ECDC’s capacity for 
data driven expert input and public health work in collaboration with Member States.  

The infrastructure investments that ECDC and the Commission have made to strengthen Member State capacity for 
WGS and RT-PCR will continue. In order to take stock of Member States increased laboratory capacity in WGS, 
ECDC’s training programme in genomic epidemiology will continue. The programme will focus on applied genomic 
based surveillance and outbreak support. Key target groups for the training initiative will be bioinformaticians, 
microbiologists, and epidemiologists. Training courses will be conducted to support all diseases groups included in 
the ECDC strategy for integration of genomic-based typing into EU level surveillance and outbreak support. 

During 2024, ECDC will finalise the implementation of the strategy for integration of genomic-based epidemiology 
into EU-level surveillance and outbreak support. This will significantly strengthen capacity for multi-country 
outbreak investigations, including confirmation of multi-country outbreaks, identification of modes and sources of 
transmission, and implementation of timely control measures. Active genomic based epidemiology will also 
enhance the power of routine surveillance and allow for early detection and characterisation of outbreaks, 
identification of high-prevalence geographical areas associated with the spread of specific high-risk clones, 
monitoring of time trends in the frequency of occurrence of certain genotypes, and identification of high-
prevalence population groups. The integrated data should also allow for impact assessment of prevention and 
control programmes. Overall, the integration of pathogen genomic data into EU-level surveillance will make ECDC 
more action-oriented and provide increased opportunities for active disease prevention and control.  

Finally, in accordance with the updated mandate, increased efforts will be made to identify capacity for various 
public health functions in Member States. The Centre will further develop the EULabCap tool for benchmarking 
microbiological capacities in countries and coordinate data collection and outputs with other ECDC initiatives in 
order to capture capacity data for other public health functions - such as preparedness, response, and surveillance.  

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Main outputs and expected results 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

Timely surveillance data analysis, interpretation 
and data dissemination. 
Key information for public health decision-making 
is available to address stakeholders’ needs. 

Timely detection, investigation, and control of 
outbreaks. 
Increased attention of Member States to 
surveillance systems performance.  
Strengthened capacity and improved laboratory 
support for laboratory networks.  
Increased application of genomic based 
epidemiology and increase in data reported to 
ECDC from active Member States. 

Improved strategic information on country- and 
EU-level situation of prevention and control for 
SDG-targeted diseases. 
Decision-makers and health professionals are 
informed by trustworthy and relevant expertise. 

Improved collaboration with partners.  
Strengthened surveillance of respiratory viruses in 
the EU/EEA. 

No. 

2.1.1 

2.1.2 

2.1.3 

Systemic data collection, analysis, interpretation and 
dissemination (indicator-based surveillance): 
•  Surveillance Atlas of infectious diseases. 
•  Annual epidemiological reports. 
•  Routine enhanced surveillance reports published 

jointly with partner agencies. 

•  Disease overview profiles. 
Threat detection and monitoring (event-based 
surveillance). Outbreak signals for further investigation. 
Surveillance evaluation protocol and process. 

2.1.4 

EURLs implemented for six disease areas. 

2.1.5 

2.1.6 

2.2.7 

2.1.8 

2.1.9 

Training courses completed in integrated genomic 
epidemiology for two disease groups. 
Implementation of ECDC strategic framework for 
genomic typing into EU-level surveillance.  
Reports on monitoring of prevention and control 
activities on HIV and viral hepatitis. 

European Union One Health Zoonoses Report  
(collaboration with EFSA covering brucellosis, 
campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis, listeriosis, 
STEC/VTEC infections, echinococcosis, trichinellosis, 
toxoplasmosis, yersiniosis).  
European Union Summary Report on Antimicrobial 
Resistance in zoonotic and indicator bacteria from 
humans, animals and food (collaboration with EFSA 
covering the occurrence of AMR in Salmonella and 
Campylobacter). 

2.1.10  Weekly surveillance of West Nile virus infections in 

2.1.11 

human and animals to support the implementation of 
SoHO prevention and control measures.  
Joint ECDC/EFSA distribution maps of arthropod vectors 
that have a public health and animal health relevance. 

2.1.12  ECDC/WHO joint weekly bulletin (ERVISS) for 
integrated surveillance of respiratory viruses. 
(integrated weekly monitoring of respiratory viruses at 
the level of EU/EEA and WHO Regional Office for 
Europe). 

2.1.13  Outputs on avian influenza: 

•  Quarterly and ad-hoc joint reports with EFSA and EURL. 
•  Annual Epidemiological Report chapter (zoonotic flu). 
•  Monthly RT and CDTR (zoonotic flu). 
•  Surveillance guidance to identify human cases of 

avian influenza. 
2.1.14  Outputs on seasonal influenza: 

•  Weekly publication of surveillance data jointly with 

WHO (through ERVISS). 

•  Weekly data sharing with WHO. 
•  Weekly publication of data in Surveillance Atlas 

(internal and external). 

•  Annual Epidemiological Report chapter. 
•  Virus characterisation report for VCM (twice a year).  
•  Monthly virus characterisation report. 

2.1.15  Outputs on COVID-19: 

•  Weekly publication of surveillance data jointly with 

WHO (through ERVISS). 

•  Weekly data sharing with WHO. 
2.1.16  Surveillance networks coordination. 

34 

 
 
 
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Single Programming Document 2024−2026 

Resources 

2.1 Surveillance 

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

55.1 

12 769 300 

Action Area 2.2 – Public health evidence and recommendations: 
provide science-based advice and recommendations through public 
health expertise 

Overview 

ECDC is committed to providing the best available evidence and expertise for decision-making and use by health 
professionals at EU and country level. In so doing, ECDC aims to enhance users’ trust in the Centre. Moreover, 
national Competent Body consultations and the IRIS prioritisation tool will be routinely used to ensure that the 
public health activities included in ECDC’s work programme are relevant and impactful. 

The Centre’s work in this area will be delivered in conjunction with the activities undertaken in several other action 
areas. In line with the strengthened mandate, in 2024 ECDC will continue bolstering its modelling, anticipation and 
forecasting capacity, while also taking advantage of these methodologies to encourage evidence-based 
policymaking and improve the utility and value of the scientific guidance produced. 

Starting in 2024, the Centre will increase its contribution to the definition of research priorities, based on internal 
evidence reviews and consultation with partners (e.g. other EU agencies) and stakeholders. It will also fortify its 
role in delivering (on request or on its own initiative) guidelines for the management of communicable diseases 
and their related special health issues. 

ECDC will continue providing downloadable datasets and open access to relevant data, information, advice and 
guidance as quickly as possible through its website, other publicly available data sites such as the EU Open Data 
Portal, and through open access publication in scientific journals. Moreover, key stakeholders and networks will be 
involved in a more structured and systematic manner. ECDC will continue to foster inter-institutional collaboration 
within the EU/EEA and with its global partners, while maintaining its scientific integrity and independence. The 
Centre will also continue to promote the transfer of ‘knowledge to actions,’ as well as fostering the sharing of 
information and experience by strengthening communities of practice within its networks (NFPs and Operational 
Contact Points (OCPs)). 

For epidemic-prone diseases, ECDC will continue to provide evidence-based scientific advice and recommendations, 
risk assessments and ad-hoc guidance on strengthening the surveillance and detection of emerging, food and 
vector-borne diseases as well as respiratory viruses and Legionella. 

For the SDG-targeted diseases, ECDC will continue to support Member States in developing and strengthening 
evidence-based prevention and control activities – with a focus on the key populations with the highest risk for 
disease acquisition and transmission. ECDC will develop and promote standards of HIV care and evidence-based 
high-impact prevention through technical reports and guidance. 

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Main outputs and expected results 

No. 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

2.2.1 
2.2.2  Outputs on emerging, food and vector-borne diseases: 

ECDC list of priorities for scientific advice. 

• 

• 

technical report on preparedness, prevention and control of Aedes 
borne diseases (dengue, chikungunya and zika) in the EU;  
risk assessment on tick-borne encephalitis virus via substances 
of human origin; 

•  ad-hoc scientific advice on emerging, food and vector-borne diseases;  
•  EFSA/ECDC estimates of the food-borne disease burden; 
•  systematic review of the association of FWD diagnostic matrixes 

and outcome severity. 

2.2.3  Outputs on respiratory viruses and Legionella: 

•  quarterly EFSA/ECDC avian influenza epidemiological reports; 
• 

twice yearly ECDC/WHO report on WHO European Region for the 
influenza vaccine composition meeting; 

•  systematic reviews on respiratory viruses sero-epidemiology, 

coinfections and post-COVID-19 condition; 

•  Annual Epidemiological Report chapters on seasonal and 

zoonotic influenza and Legionnaires’ disease; 

•  ad hoc guidance for implementation of the integrated 

• 

surveillance of respiratory viruses; 
risk assessments on respiratory viruses and Legionnaires’ 
disease; 

•  ad hoc guidance on strengthening surveillance and detection of 

avian influenza and other zoonotic respiratory viral infections (e.g. 
swine influenza, zoonotic SARS-CoV-2) in humans; 

•  updated protocols for outbreak investigation of avian influenza 

or other zoonotic respiratory viral infections; 

•  public health consideration of post-COVID-19 burden/condition; 
•  ad hoc report on burden of COVID-19. 

2.2.4  Outputs on healthcare-associated infections: 

• 

report on the third point prevalence survey of healthcare-associated 
infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial use in European acute care 
hospitals, 2022−2023; 

•  Annual Epidemiological Report chapters on surgical site 

infections, HAIs in intensive care units and Clostridioides difficile 
infections. 

2.2.5  Outputs on antimicrobial resistance: 

•  EFSA/ECHA/ECDC/EEA/JRC joint scientific report on the impact of the 
use of azole fungicides, other than as human medicines, on the 
development of azole-resistant Aspergillus spp.; 

•  Annual Epidemiological Report chapter on AMR in the EU/EEA, 2023; 
•  ECDC/WHO Regional Office for Europe joint report on AMR 

surveillance in Europe, 2022. 

2.2.6  Outputs on antimicrobial consumption: 

•  Annual Epidemiological Report chapter on antimicrobial 

consumption in the EU/EEA 2023. 

2.2.7  Outputs on sexually transmitted infections, blood-borne viruses and 

tuberculosis: 
•  standards of HIV care; 
• 

technical guidance on Chagas disease – guidance document for 
donor selection in the EU/EEA. 
2.2.8  Vaccine-related outputs on influenza and RSV: 

•  ad hoc systematic reviews on burden of RSV, vaccine 

effectiveness against RSV and vaccine effectiveness against 
seasonal influenza. 

2.2.9  Outputs on VPI: 

•  scientific evidence summaries to inform national vaccination 

programmes; 

•  measles and rubella surveillance monthly bulletin; 
•  COVID-19 and influenza vaccine effectiveness reports deriving 

from commissioned studies, including those from the ECDC/EMA 
Vaccine Monitoring Platform; 

•  Annual Epidemiological Reports related to vaccine preventable 

diseases; 

•  Report related to vaccine coverage. 

36 

Decision-makers and health professionals are 
informed thanks to trustworthy and relevant 
expertise. 

Increased preparedness against respiratory 
viruses (including influenza, COVID-19, and 
RSV and zoonotic respiratory viruses such as 
avian influenza), healthcare-associated 
infections, vaccine preventable diseases, etc. 

 
 
 
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Resources 

Single Programming Document 2024−2026 

2.2 Public health evidence and 
recommendations 
Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

19.4 

932 400 

Action Area 2.3 – Digital solutions for surveillance: provide support in 
adapting, adopting and exploring new technologies  
Overview 

As already mentioned, ECDC’s main goal is not to build digital solutions for Member States, but to acquire in-depth 
knowledge of Member States’ digitalisation and surveillance strategies, to be able to provide tailored support and 
address current gaps and inequalities.  

The eHealth surveillance programme, launched in 2022, has defined a comprehensive approach for strengthening 
Member States eHealth-based surveillance systems and supporting the establishment of such systems in Member States 
that are lagging behind. This programme includes the joint development of solutions for case identification, information 
extraction, and the sharing of good quality data for surveillance. These solutions are built through an intense exchange of 
experiences between Member States and ad-hoc country technical and financial support. Most Member States are 
currently involved in a European Commission Joint Action which aims to strengthen national capacities for electronic 
hospital surveillance, outbreak detection, and ‘One-Health’ infrastructures. In 2024, the Join Action will have delivered its 
outputs and ECDC will start building on them to further support Member States in these areas. The information that 
ECDC has gathered so far through its eHealth surveillance programme will be essential for implementing effective 
infrastructure developments through the resources made available by the European Commission.  

In the meantime, the pilot for the HealthData@EU infrastructure will be completed and ECDC will have developed 
know-how on the connection of internal infrastructures with Member States’ centralised health datasets. It is not 
possible to anticipate what the results of the pilot will be and what specific activities will subsequently be carried 
out by ECDC. However, it is very likely that additional countries will have the possibility of joining the EHDS2 and 
sharing relevant information for surveillance with ECDC and other Member States. 

In 2024, a fourth disease/health issue will be included in the eHealth programme. It is possible that most of the 
Member States will be providing data using electronic health records as the main data source. For the surveillance 
systems of the three diseases already implemented, data will be integrated into the ECDC data warehouse and 
reports produced. The Agency will then contribute to the further development of the EHDS2, as required.  

During 2024, ECDC will also launch a public version of the Epidemic Intelligence dashboard, showing events under 
monitoring as well as a restricted version for NFPs. More specifically, ECDC will make available the restricted 
Communicable Disease Threat Reports in EWRS and post the EpiPulse Situation Awareness on Serious Cross-
Border Threats to Health, providing EWRS users with a comprehensive overview of ongoing events and threats.  

Internal preparedness for response to public health events will be strengthened through the implementation of 
standardised processes and templates for rapid development of data analytics, visualisations, and reports - 
including through the use of innovative IT solutions. This will provide ECDC and the Member States with rapidly 
available data and information for risk assessment and response. 

Tools for epidemic intelligence, such as Epitweetr and the WHO Epidemic Intelligence from Open Sources (EIOS) 
application, will be integrated into EpiPulse to allow for a seamless and timely flow of data on public health signals. 
Increased collaboration with the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, and with HERA, will enable the 
sharing of cutting-edge methodologies to enhance public health intelligence in the EU/EEA. 

ECDC will work closely with Member States who have epidemic intelligence programmes to improve collaboration, 
enhance efficiency and timeliness and facilitate the validation of signals through tools such as EIOS, Epitweetr, and 
EpiPulse. Training in epidemic intelligence will be offered to the Member States as part of this initiative. 

Use of artificial intelligence for threat detection will be further expanded. Automation of epidemic intelligence will 
continue, as well as the broadening of sources and implementation of AI. A web scraping framework, incorporating 
artificial intelligence tools, will be implemented to allow for automated data extraction of selected indicators from 
Member States and other portals. 

In addition, in 2024 ECDC will continue to build systems that allow for integrated applied genomic epidemiology at 
the EU level. EpiPulse will be further developed to provide functionalities for real-time data use. The aim of the 
developments is to enable a broader group of public health stakeholders to interact with the data, and not only 
experts specialising in bioinformatics. The system will allow for user-friendly data upload, analysis and visualisation 
combined with traditional epidemiological data. Development of the back-end part of the system will focus on 
scalability, timelines and quality of bioinformatic analysis. Important front-end development areas include 
functionalities that support integrated data interpretation and visualisation. 

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Main outputs and expected results 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

No. 

2.3.1 

2.3.2 

eHealth-based surveillance reports generated 
for three diseases/health issues. 
Pilot for the HealthData@EU infrastructure 
completed. 

2.3.3 

EpiPulse Cases completed. 

2.3.4 

Interlinkage of EpiPulse with EWRS. 

2.3.5 

2.3.6 

2.3.7 

2.3.8 

Integration of Epitweetr and EIOS with 
EpiPulse. 

Systems for integrated genomic epidemiology in 
EpiPulse built. 
Training on AI for ECDC staff and EU/EEA 
Member States. 
Epitweetr update. 

2.3.9 

Outbreak detection algorithms. 

More comprehensive data to inform public health 
action with a decreased reporting burden. 
Increased understanding of the technical 
requirements, advantages, and caveats of 
implementing the EHDS2 structure for 
communicable disease surveillance.  
Replacement of TESSy with a more robust and 
high-performing EU/EEA indicator-based 
surveillance platform. 
Increased situation awareness for Health Security 
Committee. 
Seamless information flow allowing for more timely 
public health signal detection, validation and 
response. 
Systems available for all priority diseases in ECDC 
strategy for genomic typing. 
Increased knowledge of the use of AI processes for 
public health. 
Timely detection of public health signals globally, 
enabling rapid assessment and response. 
Timely detection of public health signals from ECDC 
and public databases, enabling rapid assessment 
and response. 

Resources 

2.3 Digital solutions for surveillance 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

16.8 

4 537 700 

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Single Programming Document 2024−2026 

Strategic Objective 3: Support the development of plans, systems and capacities 
for prevention, emergency preparedness and control of communicable diseases 
and related special health issues at national and EU level 

Table 4. Indicators for Strategic Objective 3 

KPI 

Baseline 
(2022) 

Target 

Means of 
verification 

Frequency 
of 
verification 

Use of ECDC risk assessments: number 
of downloads of each RRA and ROA 
document from ECDC’s website within 
30 days of publication. 

Proportion of requests for deployment or 
remote operational support - in response 
to cross-border public health 
emergencies - for which support is 
provided by the EU Health Task Force to 
Member States and the European 
Commission. 

Number of scientific articles of public 
health relevance published by attendees 
of the ECDC Fellowship Programme 
(during and two years after graduation). 

Non-PHE-related RRAs 
in 2022 (8/14): 
averaged 255 
downloads within 30 
days of publication 

180 
downloads 
within 30 days 
of publication 

90%  
(Nine requests where 
support was provided 
out of 10 requests 
received.) 

80% 

57% increase in 
scientific articles 
published following 
the ECDC Fellowship 
Programme compared 
to the two years prior 
to the programme. 

>50% 
increase 
compared to 
the two-year 
period before 
entering the 
programme. 

Satisfaction of participants with EVA 
specific training courses 

80% 

80% 

ECDC webmaster 

Annual 

Number of requests 
for a country visit or 
remote support 

Annual 

Bibliometric analysis 
in PubMED, Scopus 
(ECDC library). 

Annual 

EVA satisfaction 
surveys after a 
training has been 
completed. 

Annual 

Satisfaction with the EVA platform 

82% consider the 
relevance of EVA to be 
good or excellent 

Satisfaction score for the relevance of 
ECDC’s Continuous Professional 
Development (CPD) activities. 

78% consider 
relevance to be good 
or excellent 

Satisfaction score for the timeliness of 
ECDC’s Continuous Professional 
Development (CPD) activities. 

73% consider 
timeliness to be good 
or excellent 

Satisfaction score for the scientific 
quality of ECDC’s Continuous 
Professional Development (CPD) 
activities. 

Score of the perceived added value of 
ECDC’s Continuous Professional 
Development (CPD) activities for the 
organisation/country. 

Score of the perceived contribution to 
sustaining and/or increasing the public 
health services’ workforce capacity in 
the organisation/country of ECDC’s 
Continuous Professional Development 
(CPD) activities. 

82% consider scientific 
quality to be good or 
excellent 

55% consider added 
value to be good or 
excellent 

55% consider the 
contribution to 
increased capacity to 
be good or excellent. 

80% 

Stakeholder survey 

Biennial 

80% 

Stakeholder survey 

Biennial 

80% 

Stakeholder survey 

Biennial 

80% 

Stakeholder survey 

Biennial 

80% 

Stakeholder survey 

Biennial 

80% 

Stakeholder survey 

Biennial 

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Action Area 3.1 – Prevention and control: provide support to countries 
in strengthening their programmes and systems to prevent and 
control communicable diseases and related special health issues 

Overview 

In 2024, ECDC will continue improving its knowledge of the public health systems in the Member States in order to 
better tailor its interventions to the individual needs of Member States. This will be managed through country 
missions, country overviews on data, and Member State interactions with the Centre, to ease the flow of 
information across ECDC and the Commission (also using information from external publicly available sources, such 
as WHO, OECD, IANPHI) and the monitoring of existing or new data to inform and evaluate the impact of 
prevention and control activities. Complementary restricted information will be collected and presented to the 
European Commission from the reports of EU/EEA countries on prevention, preparedness and response planning 
(according to Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2371). 

ECDC will also continue to support Member States’ capacity development through country support activities. This 
will include the area of the SDG diseases in order to contribute to progress towards the 2030 global and regional 
targets. With regard to SoHO, work will continue on the technical guidelines for the prevention of donor-derived 
transmission of communicable diseases through Substances of Human Origin in the EU, as will the preparatory 
work for the development of a methodology for bio-vigilance in the EU/EEA which is being done with the European 
Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare (EDQM) and in conjunction with the Vigilance Expert Sub-
group. ECDC will also continue to work on the monitoring of the SoHO safety measures for the Member States. 

With regard to AMR and HAIs, ECDC will report on structure and process indicators for infection prevention and 
control (IPC) and antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) as part of the reports on the point prevalence surveys on HAIs 
and antimicrobial use in European acute-care hospitals and long-term care facilities. 

During 2024, ECDC will also perform country visits jointly with DG SANTE/F, from a ‘One-Health’ perspective where 
necessary, in accordance with Member State requests. The aim of these visits will be to enhance the prevention and control 
of AMR and improve the implementation and effectiveness of national actions plans in line with the objectives set in the 
Council Recommendation 2023/C 220/01, the latest Council Conclusions on AMR, the Global Action Plan on AMR (WHO), the 
Roadmap on antimicrobial resistance for the WHO European Region, and the European One Health Action Plan on AMR. 

ECDC will continue to provide guidelines for the development and improvement of prevention and control 
programmes in the Member States. In 2024, as part of its support to the Member States and the European 
Commission in implementing the Council Recommendation on stepping up EU actions to combat AMR in a One 
Health approach (2023/C 220/01), ECDC will define the scope and devise a strategy to develop ‘EU guidelines on 
infection prevention and control (IPC) in human health’.  

In the area of respiratory viruses, ECDC will provide relevant and high-quality surveillance data and scientific advice 
for prevention and control. The Centre will continue to use the integrated and enhanced surveillance (developed in 
2023) of COVID-19, influenza, and RSV in healthcare settings and the community to limit the spread of these 
diseases and further limit their impact on the population and on healthcare services in the Member States. 
Furthermore, the Centre will continue its activities to build respiratory virus laboratory capacity in Member States− 
e.g. through training, ring trials and EQAs.  

With regard to food and water-borne diseases, ECDC will monitor the epidemiology of these diseases and the 
impact of the control measures in place. Through routine genomic surveillance, facilitated by ECDC and EFSA’s 
interoperable WGS systems, the two agencies will perform timely detection of food-borne outbreaks from a ‘One-
Health’ perspective and provide recommendations for prevention. The regular EQA will support the capacity to 
diagnose foodborne infections (salmonellosis, listeriosis and E. coli infections) and define microbiological clusters. 
In the area of emerging and vector-borne diseases, the Centre will monitor the spread of vectors and the 
associated risk to public health in the Member States. The regular EQA will support the capacity for timely 
diagnosis of emerging and vector-borne diseases of public health relevance for the EU. 

ECDC will also continue developing the ECDC Prevention Framework, including a mapping of organisations involved in 
prevention activities, training in social and behavioural sciences for prevention, and preparations for setting up a community 
of practice on the prevention of communicable diseases. In addition, more emphasis will be placed on addressing the 
behavioural aspects of diseases, and determinants such as environmental and climatic conditions. In 2022−2023, these 
efforts were mainly focused on COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy. In 2024, this work will gradually begin to cover other areas 
and a plan will be developed to enhance capacity for social sciences and behavioural insights in the EU/EEA. 

ECDC will continue developing its One Health Framework for implementation in 2025, based on an inventory of ECDC’s 
‘One-Health’ related activities. This will allow for identification of synergies and prioritisation of the ‘One-Health’ work. In 
addition, the Centre will continue consolidating the ECDC One Health Taskforce and developing the EU/EEA level Cross-
Agency One Health Task Force, in close collaboration with EFSA, EMA, EEA and ECHA. 

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Single Programming Document 2024−2026 

Main outputs and expected results 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

No. 

3.1.1 

3.1.2 

3.1.3 

3.1.4 

3.1.5 

3.1.6 

Framework for the prevention of communicable 
diseases and related special health issues. 
Targeted country support activities on SDG-targeted 
diseases through webinars, training courses, and 
specific country support. 
Reports on AMR-related country visits, jointly with 
DG SANTE/F from a ‘One-Health’ perspective where 
necessary, at the request of Member States. 

Data on structure and process indicators of 
infection prevention and control (IPC) and of 
antimicrobial stewardship (AMS), as part of the 
reports on the point prevalence surveys of HAIs and 
antimicrobial use in European acute-care hospitals 
and long-term care facilities. 
ECDC One Health Framework developed. 
ECDC One Health Task Force established. 
EU cross-agency One Health Task Force. 

3.1.7 

Outputs related to vaccination coverage. 

3.1.8 

Toolkit on hepatitis elimination in prison settings. 

3.1.9 

Emerging, vector, food and water-borne laboratory 
support for preparedness (e.g. EQAs and 
sequencing support). 

3.1.10  Respiratory virus laboratory support for 

preparedness, in anticipation of the establishment 
of the EURL. 

Resources 

Enhanced coordination of prevention activities 
for communicable diseases in the EU. 
Improved Member State capacity to carry out 
surveillance, monitoring, prevention and control 
of SDG-targeted diseases. 
Comprehensive overview of the efforts made by 
each Member State visited to tackle AMR and 
ability to highlight areas in which further work 
would be beneficial.  
Benchmarking of Member States’ acute-care 
hospitals and long-term care facilities in terms of 
structure and process indicators for IPC and AMS. 
Ability to explore the relationship between the 
level of implementation and AMR and HAI 
rates. 
Increased internal collaboration on ‘One-Health’ 
issues.  
Increased EU-level ‘One-Health’ collaboration 
involving five EU agencies.  
Better insight into gaps in coverage in order to 
set targeted actions. 
Decision-makers and health professionals are 
provided with support. 
Increased laboratory capacity in the Member 
States. 

Increased capacity and preparedness in the 
Member States. 

3.1 Prevention and control 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

26.7 

3 557 200 

Action Area 3.2 – Preparedness and response: provide support to 
countries and the Commission in preparedness planning, risk 
assessment and outbreak response 

Overview 

In the area of emergency preparedness and response, ECDC’s main task during 2024 will be to continue to develop 
ways in which to integrate the new mandate into its regular work. This will also involve defining and perfecting our 
core activities, in order to be able to support countries in need. To a large extent, this will be facilitated through the 
EU Health Task Force. 

This support is provided in coordination with the European Commission, for EU/EEA countries mainly with DG SANTE, DG 
RTD and DG HERA (for medical countermeasures), and for non-EU countries, with DG ECHO and GOARN. 

For the first time in 2024, and every three years thereafter, ECDC will conduct assessments in all EU/EEA countries 
of national prevention, emergency preparedness and response plans in accordance with requirements listed in the 
relevant articles of the SCBTH Regulation. The Centre will also provide follow-up to support and address 
recommendations and help implement national action plans. A substantial part of the country assessment missions 
under Article 8 of the SCBTH Regulation will be devoted to preparedness and response to AMR and HAIs, as well as 
infection prevention and control (IPC). 

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Approaches and digital tools for sharing information, through the EWRS and EpiPulse, including those used for 
contact tracing, will be continuously evaluated and further improved. For the purpose of routine data exchange and 
information sharing, interoperability will be established between digital tools and systems. This also involves 
collaboration with other actors and sectors, such as DG HERA and DG ECHO, and their respective digital tools (e.g. 
ATHINA, CECIS). ECDC will continue to support the European Commission with the further development of EWRS, 
in all its dimensions. This includes the all-hazard approach, the preparedness reporting and planning, the alert 
function and coordination of response measures to halt or mitigate serious cross-border threats to health, and the 
selective exchange functionality for contact tracing and medical evacuation. ECDC will continue to assess health 
threats and provide relevant rapid risk assessments to support Member States and the Commission in their 
response to such events. Such assessments will follow the ECDC rapid risk assessment methodology and training 
on risk assessment will be provided to internal experts, EPIET and EUPHEM fellows, Member States, EU candidate 
countries and potential candidates, and other partners (e.g. CDCs, international agencies) with the aim of 
harmonising the methodology to assess threats. For cross-border food-borne threats, ECDC will continue to assess 
cross-border clusters, working jointly with EFSA for public health risk assessments from a ‘One-Health’ perspective. 
Similarly, ECDC will continue its work on pandemic preparedness, including work on public health and social 
measures, with a particular focus on respiratory viruses and possible emerging pathogens with pandemic potential.  

Standard operating procedures (SOPs) and platforms for interagency response coordination will be revised to 
implement lessons-learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic (Learning from the COVID-19 experience: Strengthening 
EU-ANSA Agencies' cooperation and preparedness to support evidence-based policymaking in times of crisis9).  

Upon request, ECDC will assist Member States with the development of public health EOC operating procedures, 
following international standards and taking into consideration crisis management developments in EWRS.  

Training will be provided in emergency preparedness and response for public health professionals. This training will 
be based on best practices identified in relevant guidance, literature reviews and case studies. 

Through the EU Initiative on Health Security, EPRS/ECDC will continue to support the strengthening of public 
health systems’ emergency preparedness and response capacities for the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) 
countries to help them assess, detect, respond to and prevent threats from communicable diseases, as well as 
enhancing regional networking and cooperation. In addition, ECDC’s partnership project with the African CDCs will 
facilitate exchanges and mutual support, along with the global integration of ECDC’s emergency preparedness and 
response efforts.  

Main outputs and expected results 

No. 

3.2.1 

3.2.2 

3.2.3 

3.2.4 

3.2.5 

3.2.6 

3.2.7 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

EU Health Task Force established and fully 
operational. 

Strengthened preparedness and response 
capacities and capabilities in Member States. 

Country support through deployments under EU 
Health Task Force mechanism. 

Support to countries in their response to cross-
border health threats through the provision of Rapid 
Risk Assessments and relevant guidance. 

Public health training modules on emergency 
preparedness and response. 

First group of assessments of Member States’ 
prevention, preparedness and response plans is 
completed, including pilot-testing of the assessment 
approach (under Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 
2022/2371). 

Strengths and challenges identified and 
addressed through country-specific 
recommendations; the submission of action 
plans for further improvement is monitored 
and followed up, with potential ECDC offers for 
support.  

Support to EU/EEA countries in respiratory 
pandemic preparedness planning.  

Increased pandemic preparedness in Member 
States. 

Digital tools and platforms for coordinating 
responses to cross-border health threats are 
functional and available. 

Strengthened cross-border and cross-sectoral 
collaboration and communication in response 
to health threats. 

9 https://www.efsa.europa.eu/it/corporate-pubs/220413eu-ansa 

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Resources 

Single Programming Document 2024−2026 

3.2 Preparedness and response 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

28.010 

2 352 500 

Resources (based on contribution agreements) 

3.2 Preparedness and response 

Staff and budget (EU grants) EWRS 

Total FTEs 

Total operational budget 

7.0 

770 400 

Action Area 3.3 – Training: provide adequate training opportunities to 
public health workforce 
Overview 

According to the strengthened ECDC mandate, the Centre will support and coordinate training programmes, 
particularly in epidemiological surveillance, field investigations, emergency preparedness and prevention, response 
to public health emergencies, public health research, and risk communication. The ECDC Fellowship Programme - 
through EPIET and EUPHEM – and the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) targeting EU/EEA public health 
professionals are the main components of ECDC’s training, which is designed to complement national efforts and is 
based on regular assessment of capacities and training needs.  

Following the external evaluation of the Fellowship Programme (2019), several improvements are being 
implemented under the multiannual roadmap. The first cohort joining the ECDC Fellowship Programme following 
the revised curriculum will be in training in 2024 and will graduate in 2025. Simplified cost options are in place for 
the grants that fund fellows’ salaries, to facilitate the administration of the programme for both training sites and 
ECDC. The challenges related to scientific coordination capacities will be addressed through a revised grant 
mechanism and better promotion to national public health institutes of the opportunity to contribute to the 
Fellowship Programme. In 2024, the involvement of ECDC experts in support to the Fellowship, for instance in 
delivery of modules, as expert resources in projects, and in developing new training material within the revised 
curriculum, is expected to bring the programme closer to the scientific methods and expertise in the Centre. This 
will probably expand fellows’ opportunities to embark in projects of a cross-border nature, especially in emergency 
preparedness and response. The mobilisation of EPIET and EUPHEM fellows to respond to public health threats will 
continue to be an integral part of the Fellowship Programme, with fellows contributing to the EU Health Task Force 
as staff in EU/EEA Member States, accessing GOARN and being deployed through other mechanisms. 

As part of the roadmap for improvements of the Fellowship, the barriers preventing some countries from 
recruiting/hosting a fellow will be identified and plans developed to address them. Support to Member States will 
be offered in programme design/development (e.g. national Field Epidemiology Training Programmes, FETP) that 
can be linked to the ECDC Fellowship Programme.  

Support to the European Commission for training purposes will continue through the implementation of the ECDC-
IPA6 project for the EU candidate countries and potential candidates, MediPIET, and the ECDC4AfricaCDC project. 
Sustainability of the MediPIET programme and network will be an important focus in 2024.  

Furthermore, ECDC’s Continuous Professional Development will continue to complement the training available in 
the Member States for professionals who commit to formally developing a knowledge transfer activity. The training 
offer will consider the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic and the ECDC priorities linked to the 
strengthened mandate. The focus will be on the deployment of training activities in emergency preparedness and 
response, vaccine acceptance, behavioural insights for a better understanding and management of cross-border 
health threats, antimicrobial resistance and healthcare associated infections, and public health microbiology.  

To support the deployment of the training activities and facilitate access to training materials, the ECDC learning 
management system (EVA) will be modernised in 2024 to respond to the evolving needs of participants in terms of 
making knowledge more easily available and facilitating feedback.  

ECDC will also continue to support internal and external stakeholders in the identification of training needs, quality 
improvement of training courses, training approaches and methods, and with the facilitation of faculty for the 
delivery of trainings. ECDC will cooperate with the Commission on training activities as well as coordinating with 
WHO. Finally, for the purposes of quality assurance, preparatory work, the compiling of documentation, and an 
application for accreditation under TEPHINET may be sought for the ECDC Fellowship Programme in 2024. 

10 Does not include the number of external experts in the EUHTF deployments. 

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Main outputs and expected results 

No. 

3.3.1 

3.3.2 

3.3.3 

3.3.4 

3.3.5 

3.3.6 

3.3.7 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

Curricular updates implemented since Cohort 2023 
and consolidated in Cohort 2024 (implementation of 
roadmap stemming from the recommendations of 
the external evaluation 2019). 
Administrative improvements progressively put in 
place: simplified cost options for hosting fellows. 
Administrative improvements progressively put in 
place: direct award grant mechanism for providing 
scientific coordination. 
Modernisation of EVA. 

ECDC training further developed, reflecting the new 
needs identified (particularly in emergency 
preparedness and response, epidemiology, 
surveillance, microbiology, multi-drug resistant 
organisms (MDRO), AMR, One Health, and vaccine-
preventable diseases).  
Accreditation of short courses under EACCME11 or 
APHEA12.  

Harmonised tools to analyse training needs within 
ECDC networks, to support the prioritisation and 
scoping of the training on offer. 

Improved Fellowship Programme to strengthen 
the workforce capacity in the Member States. 

Increased access to training.  
Member States more systematically refer to 
EVA as a training resource in the area of 
emergency preparedness and prevention of 
infectious diseases. 
Strengthening the workforce capacity in the 
Member States to respond to cross-border 
health threats. 

Continuous quality improvement activities, 
accreditation and evaluation are an essential 
part of ECDC training programmes and 
activities. 
Training courses tailored to the needs of the 
Member States and reduced inequalities in 
capacity across Europe. 

Resources 

3.3 Training 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

14.3 

4 582 200 

11 European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education 
12 Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation 

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Single Programming Document 2024−2026 

Strategic Objective 4: Streamline coordination and collaboration with 
Member States, and other ECDC key partners in the EU and globally 

Table 5. Indicators for Strategic Objective 4 

KPI 

Baseline 
(2022) 

Target 

Means of 
verification 

Frequency of 
verification 

85% 

80% 

EIC statistics 

Annual 

Three 
teleconferences 
and one face-to-
face meeting 
organised or 
attended 
(depending on 
ECDC's role) 

N/A 

Three 
teleconferences 
and one face-to-
face meeting 

Mapping of field 
epidemiology 
training 
programmes 
(FETPs) creation 
of e-learning 
content, 
development of 
SimEx training 
handbook, and 
planning of data 
analysis training 

Meeting reports 

Annual 

Joint technical 
reports on 
workshops and 
exercises; project 
steering committee 
reports (biannual); 
ECDC4AfricaCDC 
workplan 

Annual 

100% 

95% 

SARMS and Chrono 

Annual 

100% 

95% 

SARMS and Chrono 

Annual 

Rate of implementation of activities in 
the annual work programme offered to 
ENP countries 

Goal of having three teleconferences 
and one face-to-face meeting per year 
for the network of major CDCs achieved. 

Development/review of training 
packages and content at Africa CDC 

Percentage of requests to EICS from the 
European Commission and Member 
States answered within agreed timeline 

Percentage of requests from the 
European Parliament answered within 
agreed timeline 

Satisfaction of participants at ECDC’s 
session during the European Health 
Forum Gastein. 

Rate of implementation of activities in 
the annual joint action plan with WHO’s 
Regional Office for Europe. 

96% 

80% 

87% 

90% 

Average rate of participation at ECDC 
meetings and in ECDC activities 

Rate of expectations met, and objectives 
fulfilled with meetings 

58% 

92% 

75% 

75% 

Percentage of country stakeholders 
satisfied with ECDC country support 
activities 

86.5% 

80% 

External (EHFG 
organisers) 

Annual 

Joint action plan 
with WHO’s 
Regional Office for 
Europe 

Annual 

Meeting statistics 

Annual 

End-of-meeting 
satisfaction survey 

Annual 

Feedback gathered 
after country 
support activities 

Annual 

Satisfaction of members of the ECDC 
governance bodies with the cooperation 
and coordination support offered by 
ECDC. 

AF 93% 

NC 75% 

75% 

Stakeholder survey 

Biennial 

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Action Area 4.1 – Coordination and collaboration: ensure seamless 
coordination of priorities and related actions with ECDC partners and 
stakeholders 

Overview 

With the European Parliament elections in 2024 and a new European Commission, ECDC will continue to build on 
the established close relations and to strengthen coordination and collaboration with key EU institutions and 
bodies. 

Close contacts with DG SANTE, DG HERA, DG ECHO, DG NEAR, DG INTPA, DG RTD, DG JRC of the European 
Commission and with the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) of the European 
Parliament, as well as with the members of the newly established SANT subcommittee on public health within the 
ENVI Committee, will remain of particular importance. 

During 2024 the following activities will take place in the five pillars of the Targeted Country Support (TCS): 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

With regard to the country overviews: full first release will take place internally. Content will be shared for 
discussion and validation with the Member States on a bilateral level, and an analysis IT feature will be 
released for internal use. 
By the end of the year, a corporate approach towards internal reporting and the storing of country mission 
and network meeting reports will be functional and this will enable easy access and further use - for 
example in the country overviews. 
A list with funding opportunities will be compiled and regularly updated and shared with the Member States. 
Such a list will provide details on existing and, where possible, upcoming funding opportunities focused on 
prevention and control of communicable diseases. Accessing this funding will help Member States to 
address issues in areas of need for which ECDC does not have the authority or the resources to provide 
support.  
Based on the bilateral discussions with the Member States, some of them could be interested in inviting 
ECDC’s Director on a country mission to discuss possible support activities. It is anticipated that at least two 
to three such missions will take place during 2024.  
Based on the results of these missions - and possible follow-up technical meetings - information will be fed 
into the Single Programming Document and annual work programme 2025, to plan ECDC’s country support 
activities for those Member States interested. After this first pilot of the described approach, a revised 
process will be implemented over the next few years. 

Main outputs and expected results 

No. 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

Awareness of relevant contact points, increased 
information sharing, effective communication and 
alignment of actions.  
Enhanced collaboration with other EU agencies to 
share knowledge and best practices and promote 
potential synergies and joint activities. 
Increased awareness of ECDC as an agency and of 
its mandate and activities.  
Ensuring that the Agency is seen as a source of 
knowledge on communicable diseases and a trusted 
partner within the area of public health. 
Increased visibility and awareness of the work and 
role of ECDC among public health stakeholders with 
a particular focus on priority areas of the Agency. 
Increased knowledge at country level of all of 
ECDC’s work areas. 
The countries have received support in prioritised 
areas. 
Relationship with the ECDC governance bodies 
strengthened to ensure alignment of priorities and 
actions. 

4.1.1  Enhanced channels of collaboration for effective 

coordination and interaction with the different EU 
institutions and partners.  
Identification of new potential areas of collaboration and 
joint work with other EU agencies. 

4.1.2  ECDC Director’s annual exchange of views before the 

ENVI Committee of the European Parliament and 
hearings on specific disease-related topics. 
Information on ECDC activities and the Centre’s disease 
specific areas in a format useful for policymaking. 
4.1.3  Organisation of an ECDC session at the Annual European 

Health Forum Gastein. 

4.1.4  Maintenance and further development of the country 

overviews (internally). 

4.1.5  Specific Targeted Country Support activities 

implemented. 

4.1.6  Support and coordination of the work of the 

Management Board (MB), Advisory Forum (AF), and 
Coordinating Competent Bodies (CCBs). 
Liaison and actions to improve cooperation with 
members of the MB, AF and CCBs.  
Coordination of the Director Consultation Group (DCG). 
Governance of the Stakeholders Relationship 
Management (SRM) system. 

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Resources 

Single Programming Document 2024−2026 

4.1 Coordination and collaboration 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

12.3 

912 900 

Action Area 4.2 – Global health: work with international partners to 
enhance the preparedness and response to present and future public 
health threats at European level and globally 
Overview 

ECDC’s activities on global health in 2024 will focus on candidate countries and potential candidates, European 
Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) partner countries, cooperation with major CDCs, partnership with the Africa CDC and 
joint work with WHO’s Regional Office for Europe. 
•  With external financial assistance under the EU Instrument of Pre-accession Assistance (IPA), ECDC will finalise the 

implementation of the technical cooperation project with the Western Balkans and Türkiye (ECDC-IPA6 project). 
More specifically, ECDC will further advance the gradual integration of national public health authorities as observers 
into ECDC systems, networks, and activities, as per EU acquis on health security depending on their level of 
readiness and the EU enlargement policy priorities. In addition, by 2024 with support from EFSA in accordance with 
their mandate, and DG SANTE when available, ECDC will have supported the completion of gap analysis and country 
roadmaps to advance the implementation of One Health approaches against AMR in some of the countries in the 
Western Balkan region. The framework for future technical ECDC collaboration activities with EU candidate countries 
and potential candidates will have been defined jointly with the Commission, taking into account the needs of the 
countries and regional priorities, such as One Health against AMR or the strengthening of national microbiology 
laboratory systems. The feasibility of signing bilateral agreements with NPHI in the region will also be explored. 
In 2024, ECDC will have the necessary level of cooperation with most of ENP partner countries and deliver on 
several key activities of the EU Initiative on Health Security, such as training of the two cohorts of the 
Mediterranean Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (MediPIET) and enhanced capacities of ENP 
partner countries to detect, assess and respond to health threats posed by communicable diseases. In addition, the 
exchange of experts in disease specific areas, facilitated by ECDC, will ensure knowledge transfer from EU/EEA 
countries to ENP partner countries and vice versa. 
It is anticipated that in 2024 ECDC will achieve stronger partnerships with major CDCs through operation of the 
network of major CDCs, via joint activities with bilateral partners under memorandums of understanding and 
through the finalisation of the first technical four-year partnership with Africa CDC: EU for Health Security in Africa: 
ECDC4AfricaCDC in collaboration with DG INTPA. 
ECDC will continue leading the coordination of the network of major CDCs with the overall aim of exchanging 
information and data on issues of joint interest in the area of communicable diseases. The implementation of 
memorandums of understanding will be regularly monitored and gaps identified, based on ECDC corporate needs 
for additional cooperation frameworks with other partners, including other supranational CDCs and international 
organisations or institutions. 
ECDC will continue participating in the regional DG INTPA-led Team Europe Initiative on sustainable health security 
in Africa, taking a ‘One-Health’ approach, in the framework of the Global Gateway Health Package presented at the 
Sixth European Union-African Union Summit which took place in February 2022. Alongside Africa CDC, ECDC will 
take a leading role in/co-direct the formulation of a continental programme, supporting the pre- and in-service 
training of relevant professional groups for human, animal and environmental health, including the training of new 
field and frontline epidemiologists in Africa. 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The final year of the implementation of ECDC4Africa CDC project, in collaboration with DG INTPA, will result in the full 
delivery of planned activities to strengthen Africa’s capacities in preparedness, surveillance, and response to health 
threats posed by communicable diseases. This build a sound foundation for a long-term strategic and technical 
partnership with Africa CDC. 

Collaboration with WHO will benefit from the renewed memorandum of understanding with WHO’s Regional Office for 
Europe. Specific areas of collaboration have been identified, taking into account organisational and strategic priority 
changes in both organisations, including ECDC’s amended mandate. Areas of cooperation and common interest have 
been identified as joint actions. ECDC will also define technical cooperation frameworks with other WHO Regional Offices 
and the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, as well as the WHO European Centre for Preparedness for 
Humanitarian and Health Emergencies (PHHE). 

Finally, ECDC will define pathways to work together with other key global health security actors, such as DG HERA and 
EU agencies, in mutually beneficial areas of cooperation. The Centre will also make efforts to establish sustainable 
partnerships with international organisations actively involved in public health emergencies (e.g. UN organisations, the 
World Bank and IANPHI). 

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Main outputs and expected results 

No. 

4.2.1 

4.2.2 

4.2.3 

4.2.4 

4.2.5 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

National public health authorities of countries in the 
Western Balkans and Türkiye are integrated as 
observers into the majority of ECDC activities, networks, 
and systems. 
At least some countries in the Western Balkans have 
received country visits and developed country roadmaps 
for advancing ‘One-Health’ approaches against AMR. 
Deliverables in key areas of the EU Initiative on Health 
Security project are completed: 
•  workforce-oriented capabilities strengthened through 

MediPIET; 

•  increasing number of experts from ENP partner 

countries benefitting from regional capacity building 
and exchange of best practices, based on ECDC 
methodologies and disease specific networks; 

•  framework for a regional health security network is 

defined and preparatory work is ongoing. 

All deliverables in three technical areas of ECDC4Africa 
CDC project are completed:  
• 

increased capacity of Africa CDC to support national 
CDCs, laboratories and workforce in preparedness, 
outbreak response and coordinated emergency 
operations; 

•  more harmonised surveillance and data 

Improved ability of Western Balkans and Türkiye 
to fulfil and implement the EU acquis on serious 
cross-border threats to health (according to ECDC 
practices and in line with the EU enlargement 
policy priorities). 

ENP partner countries are familiar with and take 
advantage of EU practices on serious cross-border 
threats to health. 

Strengthening of Africa CDC’s capacities to support 
national public health institutes in preparedness, 
surveillance, and response to health threats. 

management systems for prioritised communicable 
diseases;  

•  strengthened Africa-based public health workforce 

development programme in epidemiology. 

Joint activities at bilateral level with partners who have 
signed a memorandum of understanding with ECDC are 
identified and implemented. 
New avenues explored for ECDC partnerships on global 
health and new memorandums of understanding 
signed/reviewed, based on mutual interests of 
cooperation. 
Regular and ad-hoc information exchange events of the 
network of major CDC, including on emerging global 
health threats from communicable diseases. 
Increasing number of joint activities with WHO Regional 
Office for Europe in areas of common interest resulting 
from the renewed memorandum of understanding. 
Cooperation frameworks with the Regional Office for the 
Eastern Mediterranean (WHO EMRO) and the Regional 
Office for Africa (WHO AFRO), WHO Headquarters and 
WHO Pandemic Hub explored. 

Strengthened bilateral collaboration and 
networking with major CDCs and other 
international partners. 

Strengthened coordination, collaboration, and joint 
actions with a number of WHO Regional Offices, 
Headquarters and the WHO Hub for Pandemic and 
Epidemic Intelligence. 

Resources 

4.2 Global health 

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

Resources (based on contribution agreements) 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

10.6 

15 000 

4.2 Global health 

Total FTEs 

Staff and budget (EU grants)  
IPA6, EUHSI, ECDC4Africa CDC 
18.0 

Total operational budget 

5 049 106 

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Single Programming Document 2024−2026 

Strategic Objective 5: Create an acknowledged, agile organisation 
through efficient systems, structures, processes and skilled staff 

Table 6. Indicators for Strategic Objective 5 

KPI 

Baseline 
(2022) 

Target 

Means of 
verification 

Frequency of 
verification 

Proportion of key processes reviewed 

28% 

Proportion of activities implemented 
from the annual work programme 

Percentage of indicators reaching the 
target 

Percentage of audit recommendations 
implemented* 
Percentage of the Internal Control 
Framework implemented 
Timeliness of recruitment process 
Number of (short-term and long-term) 
sick leaves* 
Average vacancy rate for Temporary 
Agent posts (post occupied) 

Procurement/grant procedures launched 
on originally planned date 

Percentage of changes made in the 
procurement plan throughout the year 
Proportion of submitted and reviewed 
annual and specific declarations of 
interest: 
- MB, 
- AF, 
- Senior management, 
- External experts at meetings, 
- External experts for RRA 
Proportion of replies to requests for 
Access to Documents (ATD) processed 
within the legal deadline 

Percentage of confirmatory requests 
responded to within the legal deadline 

EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme 
(EMAS) 

Percentage of meetings launched on 
planned launch date 
Percentage of changes made in the 
meeting plan throughout the year 
Budget implementation of the Centre - 
C1 Commitment rate* 
Percentage of invoices paid within the 
time limits of the ECDC Financial 
Regulation* 
Rate of cancellation of payment 
appropriations* 

Rate of budgetary outturn* 

Internal communication: 
- News items 
- Newsletters 
- Staff meetings 
- Views for the top five pages of the 
year 

89% 

60% 

67% 

80% 

20% 

85% 

90% 

90% 

100% 

Process 
landscape 

MIS 

Consolidated 
Annual Activity 
Report 
Internal Control 
Excel file 
ICF annual 
review 
HR data 
Allegro absence 
data 

Annual 

Annual 

Annual 

Annual 

Annual 

Annual 

Annual 

Annual 

9.9 weeks 
1.39% (short-term)  
1.32% (long-term) 

Maximum 12 weeks 
<2% (short-term) 
<3% (long-term) 

4.2% 

<5% 

HR data 

67% launched on 
the originally 
planned date. 
69% signed on the 
originally planned 
date 

75% 

MIS 

Annual 

38% 

<20% 

MIS 

Annual 

97% 
97% 
100% 
89% 
100% 

100% 

N/A, no confirmatory 
applications were 
received 

90% 

75% 

33% 

98.86% 

98.2% 

9.41% 

17.41% 

397 
24 
6 
3 122 

100% for each 
category 

Legal Services 
Section files 

Annual 

100% 

100% 

100% 

80% 

20% 

100% 

99% 

2% 

5% 

At least 250 
At least 50 
At least 5 
At least 1 000 views 
for the top five 
pages of the year 

Legal Services 
Section files 

Annual 

Legal Services 
Section files 

EMAS 
Environmental 
Statement 

MIS 

MIS 

Annual 

Annual 

Annual 

Annual 

ABAC WF 

Annual 

ABAC WF 

Annual 

ABAC WF 

Annual 

Budget outturn 
account 

Annual 

Google Analytics 
and internal 
communication 
inboxes 

Annual 

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Target 

Means of 
verification 

Frequency of 
verification 

For IT products with 
BIP 1 or 2: 0 Critical 
and 0 High 

Azure 

Annual 

KPI 

Quality of software products 

Availability of hosted applications under 
SLA 

Baseline 
(2022) 

2/26 IT products 
failed the 
acceptance criteria 
(EpiPulse, FluNews) 

08:00−18:00 
99.95% 
24/7: 
99.91% 

99.0% 

Business owners’ satisfaction with the 
DTS Unit services 

41% 

At least 57% 

Proportion of ICT Front-Office requests 
and incidents resolved, as per SLA 

96.1% for requests 
and 96.15% for the 
incidents 

Above 95% 

Digital literacy. 

68% 

70% 

ECDC 
Infrastructure 
Service 
Management 
Report 
End users’ 
satisfaction 
survey 
ECDC 
Infrastructure 
Service 
Management 
Report 
Microsoft 
Productivity 
Score 

Annual 

Annual 

Annual 

Annual 

* Indicators according to the Guidelines on key performance indicators (KPI) for Directors of EU decentralised agencies, 13 March 
2015, SWD (2015) 62 Final. 

Action Area 5.1 – Organisational excellence: increase organisational 
effectiveness, efficiency and excellence through implementation of an 
integrated management system 

Overview 

The implementation of the ECDC Integrated Management Framework (IMF) Roadmap will continue in 2024 
(adapted to the available resources). One of the main objectives for 2024 is to fully implement an integrated IT 
system to support the planning and monitoring of the ECDC work and resources. To facilitate implementation and 
coordination, the role of the single points of contact for planning (SPOCs) will be completely established, together 
with common guidance and training for Units/Sections. This will make the planning and reporting on the ECDC 
annual work programme more efficient at all levels. 

To ensure that the implementation of ECDC’s annual workplan can be monitored, a mechanism consisting of a set 
of processes integrating workplan monitoring, distribution of staff resources, budget transfers, procurement, grants 
and meetings, will be set up by the end of 2024. The quarterly ECDC performance reporting to the Management 
Board will be streamlined through a jointly agreed process. To facilitate performance monitoring at the Unit/Section 
level, standardised processes and tools (e.g. dashboards, scorecards) will be developed and their use in the Units 
supported. 

In 2024, the implementation of an ISO 9001-based Quality Management system will continue by establishing single 
points of contact in the Units to support implementation, exchange of good practices, and to ensure a harmonised 
approach throughout the Centre. Moreover, a process will be developed to capture and analyse all necessary 
information for the annual Quality Management report. The process management methodology will be introduced 
in 2023, and its implementation will continue in 2024. Subject to available resources, optimisation of key processes 
will continue. The work on ECDC instructional documents will continue to ensure that documents are easily 
accessible and updated – and that the related e-workflow functions. 

To ensure the coordination of ECDC’s internal control and audit activities, the Internal Control Framework will be 
updated, and its implementation monitored annually. Furthermore, the internal control system will be assessed and 
reported in the Consolidated Annual Activity Report (CAAR). Audits are carried out by the Internal Audit Service of 
the Commission and the European Court of Auditors according to the annual audit plans. The audit 
recommendations will be followed up and results reported to the Audit Committee of the Management Board in the 
context of every Management Board meeting.  

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Main outputs and expected results 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

No. 

5.1.1 

5.1.2 

5.1.3 

Coordination of the Integrated Management 
Framework and implementation of the IMF roadmap. 

Fully implemented IT tool for planning and 
monitoring.  
E-workflow applications introduced for selected 
ECDC key processes. 
Planning, monitoring and reporting on ECDC work 
programmes. 
Set of tools and processes are in place to support 
the integration of information across the organisation 
for regular monitoring. 
Scorecards/dashboards for monitoring performance 
internally at organisational/Unit/Section level. 
Guidelines and training on planning and monitoring. 
Project and programme management coordination 
and support across ECDC. 

5.1.4  Deployment of the ISO 9001-based Quality 

Management system continues in selected Sections. 
Quality coordinators in all Units are nominated and 
trained. 
Selected core processes optimised as planned. 
Stakeholder requirements for ECDC core outputs 
defined. 
Planned evaluations coordinated and action plans 
developed. 
Instructional documents are continuously managed. 
Audit coordination and follow-up of audit 
observations. 
Internal control coordination and internal control 
framework activities implemented. 
Grants ex-post verifications. 

5.1.5 

Resources 

ECDC organisational management 
improvements achieved through the IMF, 
implementation of the IMF roadmap, and 
support from the IMF Working Group.  
The ECDC IMF is operational as a result of 
integrated and automated IT tools. 

Comprehensive planning, monitoring and 
reporting on ECDC activities to support the 
implementation of the ECDC Strategy. 
ECDC work programmes are planned more 
efficiently, which will save time for experts. 
Improved achievement of set targets through 
enhanced KPIs and their monitoring. 
Integrated monitoring of the implementation of 
the ECDC work programme provides a better 
picture of the situation by combining the 
workplan implementation and human and 
financial resources used, thereby supplying 
evidence for timely management decisions. 
Projects are well designed and integrated into 
the planning cycle and monitored throughout 
their lifecycle. 
Quality Management system embedded in the 
ECDC’s business processes. 
Improved performance of the organisation (e.g. 
increased efficiency, simplified processes) and 
increased satisfaction of ECDC partners and 
stakeholders (internal and external).  

ECDC’s internal control framework is fully 
implemented. 

5.1 Organisational excellence 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

16.9 

0 

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Action Area 5.2 – Engaged staff: recruit and retain capable, 
motivated, and resilient staff 

Overview 

Following a three-year period of intensive growth with a total of 68 new posts filled until 2023, the Centre will 
consolidate its core staffing, with the last five new posts being recruited in 2024.  

As a result of the high workload for staff related to the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health emergencies in 
recent years, and the fact that ECDC had a crisis organisation set-up, in combination with many new staff members 
joining, the Centre started to focus on ‘connecting and re-connecting’ within the organisation during the second 
half of 2022. In addition, learning opportunities were promoted more extensively as there had been less 
attendance of training courses in recent years due to time constraints. The activities undertaken to connect/re-
connect have been Unit retreats, with the primary focus on staff meeting and discussing the future. Given the 
hybrid working conditions, in combination with many new staff joining the organisation, an ECDC staff retreat was 
also arranged to provide an opportunity for staff to meet in person. In terms of learning, the Centre has adopted a 
policy ‘Learning for Continuous Professional Development’ (L4CPD) promoting self-driven training by including an 
individual learning budget envelope. To tackle the aftermath of the high workload following the pandemic period, 
the Centre offered stress prevention and stress management activities, such as lectures with hands-on advice, and 
as a mindfulness programme. 

To remain attractive to potential candidates, as well as long-serving and newly recruited staff, the Centre will 
continue to provide learning opportunities that are suited to the needs of its staff, in combination with the 
requirements of the Centre to effectively implement its revised mandate. It will also provide staff engagement 
activities, such as team/unit/all ECDC staff retreats. Furthermore, ECDC will have a strong focus on performance 
management and will be conducting an evaluation of the Centre’s performance management process. 

The area of diversity and inclusion will be further developed through the establishment of a sustainable framework 
for related activities. In terms of gender balance, the Centre encourages female applicants in its vacancy notices, 
particularly for middle management posts (Heads of Unit) but also for Heads of Section. Furthermore, the Director 
always takes into consideration the gender (and geographical) balance when appointing candidates. The Centre 
aims to begin work on revamped and new organisational values during the last part of 2024, and the work to 
ensure their adoption throughout the Centre will be of high importance in the years to come.  

Following a change in approach at the Commission regarding the implementation of a new HRM IT system, it has 
now decided to keep SYSPER 2 and patch the interface with Service Now, instead of purchasing a new system. The 
Agency therefore needs to carefully assess the best way to proceed so as not to jeopardise the HR 
services/processes already available in the current ECDC HRM IT system (Allegro). A thorough gap analysis should 
be undertaken to map out those processes currently supported by the Commission HRM IT system.  

Main outputs and expected results 

No. 

5.2.1 

Analysis of the ECDC performance management 
process (SDD, reclassification). 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

New/revised, fit-for-purpose and modern 
performance management process which 
fosters feedback and promotes career 
advancement/opportunities based on merit. 
Diversity and inclusion aspects are part of key 
ECDC processes and well embedded at the 
Centre. 
A plan and possible time frame for a future 
migration to the Commission HRM IT system. 

5.2.2  Development of a framework for diversity and 

inclusion activities. 

5.2.3  Gap analysis (including cost analysis) regarding the 

HR processes the current Commission HRM IT 
system (Sysper 2) supports (which are available for 
agencies to implement), and comparison with the 
ECDC HRM IT system Allegro (currently in place). 

Resources 

5.2 Engaged staff 

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

17.1 

0 

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Action Area 5.3 – Responsive support: develop efficient and agile support 
services that enable operational excellence while ensuring compliance 

Overview 

In this area, the main objective of the Centre is to develop and maintain efficient and agile support services that 
enable operational excellence while ensuring compliance.  

In the area of procurement services, ECDC aims to continue developing and enhancing the new Planning and Monitoring 
system to improve its procurement planning and execution. The system provides programme managers and staff with 
improved oversight and ability to track and manage their actions, facilitating the implementation of the work programme. 
At the same time, the Centre will continue its work on making processes more efficient through evolving workflows, 
including the possibility of incorporating various Commission systems to a greater degree.  

During 2024, ECDC will continue to implement various improvements and adaptations to its physical and digital 
workspaces, responding to needs for new ways of working in a hybrid environment with different modes of cooperation. 
The activities will be undertaken in conjunction with the continuous improvement of the Eco-Management and Audit 
Scheme (EMAS) that forms the basis of the Centre’s work on sustainability. Finally, the Centre aims to focus on 
continuous improvement in the areas of event management and business travel, focusing on simplifying and increasing 
the predictability of its systems and processes. The objective here is to improve end-user satisfaction. 

The roll-out of the next generation financial management solution by the European Commission (SUMMA) will be 
the focus of the Centre’s financial management services, including potential training of many staff across all Units. 

In Legal Services, the focus will continue to be on the provision of effective and reliable advisory services, including 
handling legal complaints, implementing the independence policies for staff and non-staff, data protection, advising 
on public access to document requests and third-party agreements (memorandums of understanding and other 
types of external collaboration), and providing a support function in ethics-related issues. A revision of the 
independence policies for staff and non-staff is envisioned to commence in 2024 and be finalised in 2025. 

Main outputs and expected results 

No. 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

5.3.1 

Provision of procurement services. 

5.3.2  New and enhanced procurement 

workflows/further implementation of Commission 
workflows. 
Provision of legal support. 

5.3.3 

5.3.4  Data protection function strengthened. 

5.3.5 

ECDC independence policies for staff and non-
staff. 

5.3.6 

Coordination of access to document requests.  

5.3.7 

5.3.8 

5.3.9 

Provision of effective and efficient financial 
management services. 
Preparation for and deployment of the new 
financial management system (SUMMA). 
Provision of effective and efficient corporate 
services, including EMAS. 

ECDC has services and goods available in the right 
quality and quantity and on time in order to pursue 
its mandate, by facilitating effective planning and 
execution of procurement and grants procedures. 
Improved effectiveness and efficiency of the 
procurement services. 

ECDC receives effective and reliable legal advice on 
matters related to the operational as well as 
administrative area of the Centre’s activities. 
Ensured ECDC compliance with data protection 
legislation.  
Conflict of interest checks conducted to protect 
ECDC’s independence (via collection and evaluation 
of declarations of interest in accordance with the 
Independence Policy.  
ECDC complies with legislation on public access to 
documents.  
ECDC ensures correct, sound and efficient 
management of its financial resources. 
Improved financial management, including 
reporting and monitoring capacity. 
ECDC has a sustainable, secure, and healthy 
workplace. 

Resources 

5.3 Responsive support 

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

53.9 

131 600 

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Action Area 5.4 – Digital transformation services 

Overview 

ECDC develops infrastructure and applications that enable the Centre itself and Member States to use health data 
to help determine public health policy and improve lives in Europe.  

Throughout 2024, ECDC will continue to implement smart analytics and AI to assess and interpret data effectively 
and to offer relevant and timely scientific evidence - using modern visualisation tools. EpiPulse, the Early Warning 
and Response System (EWRS) will remain fundamental for the operation of the Centre. ECDC will also continue to 
contribute to common EU initiatives in the digital area such as the European Health Data Space (EHDS2).  

ECDC staff will continue to be digitally empowered thanks to a user-friendly digital workplace, guided by a common 
digital etiquette, and trained with the necessary digital skills. IT product and service portfolios will continue to be 
maintained, upgraded and developed to address business needs. Product delivery timeliness and quality will be 
gradually improved.  

ECDC will continue to improve its digital infrastructure so that its critical underlying systems are responsive and 
secure. Even if ECDC’s applications are mainly hosted locally, the Centre will continue to use cloud services where 
possible and economically viable - for example with the adoption of Microsoft 365 and some production workloads 
running on cloud-based servers. 

Main outputs and expected results 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

No. 
5.4.1 

ECDC provides digital solutions for the 
Commission, Member States and other 
stakeholders.  

Timely generation and exchange of standardised 
high-quality data to support Member States in rapidly 
responding to cross-border health threats of 
infectious diseases. 
Smart analytics and data visualisation allow ECDC to 
assess and interpret data effectively and to offer 
relevant and timely scientific evidence. 
ECDC staff are digitally empowered with a user-
centric digital workplace, guided by a common digital 
etiquette, and trained with the necessary digital skills. 
Digital infrastructure fulfils the business needs. 

Agile planning and resource management. 
Improved timeliness of IT product delivery. 
Improved quality of the digital solutions. 
ECDC information assets are adequately protected. 

5.4.2  Digital workplace that addresses the needs for 
mobility, flexibility, communication and 
collaboration. Users can easily access the IT 
enterprise services they need via the front-
office or self-service. 
Secure and continuously improved digital 
platforms. 

5.4.3 

Resources 

5.4 Digital transformation services 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

27.3 

4 344 900 

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Action Area 5.5 – Internal communication: enhance the 
understanding of our vision, mission and strategic priorities, and 
provide platforms and forums to inform and connect staff 

Overview 

In 2024, internal communication activities will continue to be implemented in close collaboration with stakeholders 
across ECDC. Rather than simply informing staff. these activities will aim to listen and engage. They will help 
managers in delivering messages using the appropriate channels and tone, support efforts to retain skilled staff, 
and help everyone feel that they are part of a change-making organisation. 

Internal communication will also support change management processes by helping staff to understand and adapt 
to transformations. Even after the finalisation of the internal campaign which was implemented in 2023 to bring 
about ECDC’s transformational programme, communication outputs related to the programme will continue.  

ECDC will finalise a usability study of its Information Centre and implement recommendations. The platform will 
continue to foster a more holistic approach to internal information management. In addition, internal events will be 
held to connect staff and provide informal forums for interaction (both in person and digitally).  

Other channels and initiatives will also be implemented or upgraded, including those to push or pull information – 
e.g. TV screens, staff meetings, ‘Meet Your Colleagues’ features – as well as those aimed at creating engagement 
and a sense of community. In addition, core areas of ECDC’s work with external audiences will be highlighted 
internally throughout the year – e.g. awareness campaigns and publications. 

Main outputs and expected results 

No. 

Main outputs 

Expected results 

5.5.1  News items, newsletters and staff meetings. 

Engaged and informed staff. 

5.5.2 

Internal communication, events and activities. 

Resources 

5.5 Internal communication 

Staff and Title 3 budget 

Total FTEs for this activity 

Total operational budget for this activity 

1.7 

0 

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Annexes 

Annex 1. Organisational chart 2024 

Annex 2. Resource allocation per activity 2024−2026 

Annex 3. Financial resources (Tables) 2024−2026 

Annex 4. Human resources (quantitative) 

Annex 5. Human resources (qualitative) 

Annex 6. Environment management 

Annex 7. Building policy 

Annex 8. Privileges and immunities 

Annex 9. Evaluations 

Annex 10. Strategy for the organisational management and internal control systems 

Annex 11. Plan for procurements 2024 

Annex 12. Plan for grants, contributions or service-level agreements 

Annex 13. Strategy for cooperation with third countries and/or international organisations 

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Annex 1. Organisational chart 2024 

* Please note that PHF, DTS and RMS each have a Deputy Head of Unit who is also a Head of Section and therefore not included 
in the number of staff counted under ‘Management and Support’. DPR has a Deputy Head of Unit with operational staff directly 
reporting to him. 

**New posts granted in the 2024 budget will be allocated during the course of 2023. 

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Annex 2. Resource allocation per activity 2024−2026 

Table A1. Resource allocation by Action Area 2024−2026* 

Activity 

TA 

CA 

Budget 
allocated 
(EUR million) 

TA 

CA 

Budget 
allocated 
(EUR million) 

TA 

CA 

Budget 
allocated 
(EUR million) 

2024 

2025 

2026 

1.1 – Standards and methodologies 

1.2 – Knowledge transfer 

1.3 – Foresight and modelling, and research engagement 

1.4 – External and risk communication 

2.1 – Surveillance 

2.2 – Public health evidence and recommendations 

2.3 – Digital solutions for surveillance 

3.1 – Prevention and control 

3.2 – Preparedness and response 

3.3 – Training 

4.1 – Coordination and collaboration 

4.2 – Global health 

5.1 – Organisational excellence 

5.2 – Engaged staff 

5.3 – Responsive support 

5.4 – Digital transformation services 

5.5 – Internal communication 

SNE 

TOTAL 

5.5 

10.1 

10.5 

5.5 

40.4 

15.1 

9.9 

17.8 

20.9 

9.4 

5.1 

5.6 

14.3 

11.6 

25.1 

17.5 

0.6 

1.6 

11.8 

1.0 

6.9 

14.7 

4.3 

6.9 

8.9 

7.1 

4.9 

7.2 

5.0 

2.6 

5.5 

28.8 

9.8 

1.1 

5 

1.7 

5.0 

3.2 

3.2 

20.9 

3.9 

6.9 

7.6 

6.4 

6.6 

3.0 

1.5 

3.2 

3.2 

7.3 

8.4 

0.2 

0.7 

5.5 

10.1 

10.5 

5.5 

40.4 

15.1 

9.9 

17.8 

20.9 

9.4 

5.1 

5.6 

14.3 

11.6 

25.1 

17.5 

0.6 

1.6 

11.8 

1.0 

6.9 

14.7 

4.3 

6.9 

8.9 

7.1 

4.9 

7.2 

5.0 

2.6 

5.5 

28.8 

9.8 

1.1 

5 

1.7 

5.0 

3.2 

3.3 

20.8 

3.9 

6.9 

7.6 

6.4 

6.5 

3.0 

1.5 

3.2 

3.2 

7.3 

8.4 

0.2 

0.7 

5.5 

10.1 

10.5 

5.5 

40.4 

15.1 

9.9 

17.8 

20.9 

9.4 

5.1 

5.6 

14.3 

11.6 

25.1 

17.5 

0.6 

1.6 

11.8 

1.0 

6.9 

14.7 

4.3 

6.9 

8.9 

7.1 

4.9 

7.2 

5.0 

2.6 

5.5 

28.8 

9.8 

1.1 

5 

1.8 

5.1 

3.3 

3.4 

21.1 

4.0 

7.0 

7.7 

6.6 

6.6 

3.0 

1.5 

3.3 

3.2 

7.4 

8.5 

0.2 

0.7 

225 

133 

92.8 

225 

133 

92.6 

225 

133 

94.3 

*2024 is the first year in which ECDC has been implementing its amended Strategy. This has redefined Action Areas/activities, in order to pursue revised Strategic Objectives in line 
with ECDC’s strengthened mandate. Due to these changes, the data on the resources allocated to Action Areas/activities in 2023 is not comparable.  

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Annex 3. Financial Resources (Tables) 2024−2026 

Table A2. Revenue 

General Revenues 

REVENUES 

EU contributions 

Other revenue 

TOTAL REVENUES 

1 Revenue from fees and charges 

2 EU contribution 

- Of which assigned revenues deriving from 
previous years' surpluses 

3 Third country contributions (incl. EEA/EFTA and 
candidate countries) 

N (2023) 

Revenues estimated by the Agency 

87 665 000 

2 517 000 

90 182 000 

N +1 (2024) 

Budget forecast 

90 288 652 

2 592 714 

92 881 366 

Executed 
N-1 (2022) 

Estimated by the 
Agency 
N (2023) 

N+1 
(2024) 
Agency request  Budget forecast 

VAR 
N+1/N 
(%) 

Envisaged 
N+2 
(2025) 

Envisaged 
N+3 
(2026) 

General revenues 

96 602 290 

85 925 120 

72 422 185 

89 412 425 

91 036 673 

3 200 964 

3 259 112 

3 200 964 

3 259 112 

1 739 880 

17 866 467 

2 248 774 

2 517 000 

2 592 714 

- Of which EEA/EFTA (excl. Switzerland) 

2 248 774 

2 517 000 

2 592 714 

- Of which candidate countries 

4 Other contributions 

5 Administrative operations 

- Of which interest generated by funds paid by the 
Commission by way of the EU contribution (FFR 
Art. 58) 

6 Revenues from services rendered 
against payment 

7 Correction of budgetary imbalances. 

TOTAL 

98 851 064 

90 182 000 

92 881 366 

92 613 389 

94 295 785 

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Additional EU funding: grant, contribution, and service-level agreements 

REVENUES 

TOTAL REVENUES 

N (2023) 

Revenues estimated by the Agency 

12 344 723 

N +1 (2024) 

Budget forecast 

0 

REVENUES 

Additional EU funding: grant, contribution and service-level agreements 

Executed 
N-1 (2022) 

Estimated by the 
Agency 
N (2023) 

N+1 
(2024) 

Agency request  Budget forecast 

VAR N+1/N 
(%) 

Additional EU funding stemming from grants (FFR Art.7) 

Additional EU funding stemming from contribution 
agreements (FFR Art.7) 

4 291 446 

12 344 723 

0 

Additional EU funding stemming from service-level 
agreements (FFR Art. 43.2) 

TOTAL 

4 291 446 

12 344 723 

0 

0 

0 

Envisaged 
N+2 
(2025) 

Envisaged 
N+3 
(2026) 

0 

0 

0 

0 

Commitment appropriations 

Payment appropriations 

Commitment appropriations 

Payment appropriations 

N (2023) 

N +1 (2024) 

41 374 000 

9 583 000 

39 225 000 

90 182 000 

41 374 000 

9 583 000 

39 225 000 

90 182 000 

43 096 000 

10 392 000 

39 393 000 

92 881 000 

43 096 000 

10 392 000 

39 393 000 

92 881 000 

Table A3. Expenditure  

REVENUES 

Title 1 - Staff expenditure 

Title 2 - Infrastructure and 
operating expenditure 

Title 3 - Operational expenditure 

TOTAL EXPENDITURE 

60 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Commitment and payment appropriations 

Draft Budget N+1 (2024) 

VAR 
N+1 (2024)/N (2023) 

Agency request  Budget forecast 

ECDC CORPORATE 

EXPENDITURE 

Executed 
Budget N-1 
(2022) 

Budget N 
(2023) 

Title 1 - Staff expenditure 

41 813 835 

41 374 000 

43 096 000 

11 Salaries and allowances 

36 508 439 

37 490 000 

39 003 000 

- Of which establishment plan posts 

27 638 094 

27 750 000 

29 253 000 

- Of which external personnel 

8 870 345 

9 740 000 

9 750 000 

12 Expenditure relating to staff 
recruitment 

13 Mission expenses 

655 490 

600 000 

485 000 

386 352 

450 000 

650 000 

14 Socio-medical infrastructure 

141 238 

180 000 

280 000 

15 Training 

16 External services 

17 Receptions, events and 
representation 

359 004 

500 000 

500 000 

3 729 249 

2 104 000 

2 121 000 

34 063 

50 000 

57 000 

Title 2 - Infrastructure and operating 
expenditure 

20 Rental of buildings and 
associated costs 
21 Information, communication 
technology and data processing 

22 Movable property and associated 
costs 

23 Current administrative 
expenditure 

85 473 

229 000 

237 000 

288 377 

281 000 

222 000 

24 Postage/telecommunications 

87 458 

135 000 

134 000 

25 Meeting expenses 

365 765 

785 000 

825 000 

(%) 

+4.1% 

+4% 

-19.1% 

+44.4% 

+55.5% 

Single Programming Document 2024−2026 

Envisaged N+2 
(2025) 

Envisaged N+3 
(2026) 

43 500 000 

44 572 000 

39 800 000 

29 650 000 

10 150 000 

485 000 

450 000 

235 000 

500 000 

40 887 000 

30 460 000 

10 427 000 

485 000 

450 000 

220 000 

500 000 

2 000 000 

2 000 000 

30 000 

30 000 

-20.9% 

+5% 

300 000 

250 000 

135 000 

750 000 

300 000 

250 000 

135 000 

750 000 

61 

8 183 048 

9 583 000 

10 392 000 

4 074 709 

4 833 000 

5 049 000 

+8.4% 

+4.4% 

10 113 000 

10 151 000 

5 100 000 

5 100 000 

3 281 266 

3 320 000 

3 925 000 

+18.2% 

3 578 000 

3 616 000 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Table A4. Budget outturn and cancellation of appropriations 

Budget outturn 

Revenue actually received (+) 

Payments made (-) 

Carry-over of appropriations (-) 

Cancellation of appropriations carried over (+) 
Adjustment for carry-over of assigned revenue 
appropriations from previous year (+) 

N-4 
(2020) 

N-3 
(2021) 

N-2 
(2022) 

70 708 000 

172 749 000 

103 385 000 

47 139 000 

109 153 000 

75 930 000 

22 533 000 

71 428 000 

35 729 000 

1 155 000 

1 025 000 

13 837 000 

1 118 000 

9 089 000 

12 124 000 

Exchange rate differences (+/-) 

-238 000 

-543 000 

179 000 

Adjustment for negative balance from previous year (-) 

TOTAL 

3 071 000 

1 739 000 

17 866 000 

Descriptive information and justification 

• 

Budget outturn 

First estimate of the 2022 surplus to be reimbursed to the EU budget (as assigned revenue): EUR 17 866 467.32 

The Centre cashed its budget of EUR 99 872 000 in 2022. 

The expenditure of 2022, including the carry-forward to 2023, is EUR 111 659 912.46 

The amount of cancelled unused payment appropriations carried forward from the previous year (2021) of EUR 13 837 170.29, the adjustment for carry-over from the previous year of 
appropriations available at 31.12 arising from assigned revenue of EUR 12 124 588.87 and the exchange rate gain for the year 2022 of EUR 179 011.60 have resulted in a positive budget 
outturn for 2022.  

In 2022, ECDC reimbursed the budgetary positive balance from 2021 of EUR 1 739 880.22 to the EU.  

As a result of the above, EUR 17 866 467.60 will be reimbursed during 2023 to the EU budget (as assigned revenue) related to the Centre’s 2022 budget implementation. 
• 

Cancellation of commitment appropriations 

The total implementation of commitment appropriations in 2022 reached 98.86%, with a total of EUR 1 136 676.41 cancelled, compared to EUR 1 085 863.33 cancelled in 2021. As a 
result, the reduction of the EU contribution of 2% for the implementation of commitment appropriations is not applicable for ECDC’s 2024 budget. However, due to cancellations of 
payment appropriations within the HERA Incubator WGS infrastructure support grant agreements, which were beyond the Centre’s control, ECDC cancelled more than 5% of its 
payment appropriations in 2022. The commitment of appropriations for the operational expenditure on Title 3 reached 98.87% in 2022. 
• 

Cancellation of payment appropriations for the year and payment appropriations carried over 

The Centre carried forward EUR 59 303 806 from 2021 to 2022, of which EUR 45 466 636 was paid (fund source C8). 

This corresponds to 76.67% of the amount carried forward.  

Excluding the HERA Incubator WGS grants from the C8 performance numbers, the rate of execution for 2022 was 95.8%, which is an improvement of 3.4 points on the previous year. 

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Annex 4. Human Resources (quantitative) 

Table A5. Staff population and its evolution; overview of all categories of staff 

A. Statutory staff and SNEs 

Staff 

Year 2022 

Year 2023 

Year 2024 

Year 2025 

Year 2026 

Authorised Budget 

Actually filled as of 
31/12/202213 

Occupancy rate 
% 

Authorised 
staff 

Envisaged 
staff 

Envisaged 
staff 

Envisaged 
staff 

ESTABLISHMENT PLAN 
POSTS 

Administrators (AD) 

Assistants (AST) 

Assistants/Secretaries (AST/SC) 

TOTAL ESTABLISHMENT PLAN 
POSTS 

EXTERNAL STAFF 

148 

62 

5 

215 

FTE 
corresponding 
to the 
authorised 
budget 

Contract Agents (CA) 

Seconded National Experts 
(SNE) 

TOTAL EXTERNAL STAFF 

TOTAL STAFF 

130 

5 

135 

350 

141 

60 

5 

206 

95.3 % 

96.8 % 

100% 

95.8% 

155 

62 

222 

Executed FTE as 
of 31/12/202214 

Execution 
Rate % 

Headcount as 
of 31/12/2022 

117 (plus 20 CA 
posts from externally 
funded projects) 

90 % (92.9 % of 
the 2023 budget) 

117 (authorised 
budget 2023: 
12615) 

4 

121 

323 

80.0% 

5 

89.7% 

131 (authorised 
staff) 

92.3 % 

353 

158 

61 

6 

225 

FTE 
corresponding 
to the 
authorised 
budget 

128 

5 

133 

358 

158 

61 

6 

225 

158 

61 

6 

225 

Envisaged 
FTE 

Envisaged 
FTE 

128 

5 

133 

358 

128 

5 

133 

358 

13 Posts filled as of 31.12.2022 include six offers made and accepted (1 AD8, 2 AD5, 2 AST4, 1 AST/SC1). 
14 Posts filled as of 31.12.2022 include six offers made and accepted (3 FGIV, 2 FGII and 1 FGIII project post).  
15 Excluding CA posts from externally funded projects, see table below. 

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B. Additional external staff expected to be financed from grant, contribution or service-level agreements 

Human Resources 

Contract Agents (CA) 

Seconded National Experts (SNE) 

TOTAL 

C. Other Human Resources 

Structural service providers 

Security/reception/logistics 

IT 

Other (specify) 

Interim workers 

31/12/2022 
posts filled 

1716 

0 

17 

Year 2023 

Year 2024 

Year 2025 

Year 2026 

Envisaged FTE 

Envisaged FTE 

Envisaged FTE 

Envisaged FTE 

23 

0 

23 

3017 

0 

30 

30 

0 

30 

3018 

0 

30 

Actually in place as of 
31/12/2022 

7 

10 

0 

Total FTEs in year 

N-1 (2022) 

Number 

46 

16 Two posts were vacant due to just being created following the signing of the EVIP project agreement, the remaining posts were vacant due to internal mobility requiring new recruitments or cannot be filled due the short 
time left in the project. 
17 This includes seven posts for the EWRS project, for which the project agreement is anticipated to be signed in early 2024. 
18 Provided that certain grants are extended, details unknown at this time. However, most of the contract agreements may be concluded in 2024/25, in which case the number of externally funded project staff will be lower. 

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Table A6. Multi-annual staff policy plan Year N+1-Year N+3 

Function 
group and 
grade 

AD 16 

AD 15 

AD 14 

AD 13 

AD 12 

AD 11 

AD 10 

AD 9 

AD 8 

AD 7 

AD 6 

AD 5 

AD TOTAL 

AST 11 

AST 10 

AST 9 

AST 8 

AST 7 

AST 6 

Year 2022 

Year 2023 

Year 2024 

Year 2025 

Year 2026 

Authorised budget 

Actually filled as of 
31/12/202219 

Authorised budget 

Envisaged 

Envisaged 

Envisaged 

Permanent 
posts 

Temporary 
posts 

Permanent 
posts 

Temporary 
posts 

Permanent 
posts 

Temporary 
posts 

Permanent 
posts 

Temporary 
posts 

Permanen
t posts 

Temporary 
posts 

Permanent 
posts 

Temporary 
posts 

1 

2 

3 

7 

8 

25 

24 

25 

29 

21 

3 

1 

1 

5 

6 

8 

17 

36 

10 

14 

43 

1 

2 

3 

7 

8 

25 

24 

28 

29 

25 

3 

1 

1 

3 

6 

8 

16 

24 

29 

23 

32 

15 

1 

1 

3 

6 

8 

16 

24 

29 

23 

32 

15 

1 

1 

3 

6 

8 

16 

24 

29 

23 

32 

15 

148 

141 

155 

158 

158 

158 

1 

2 

3 

11 

10 

2 

2 

5 

9 

1 

2 

3 

11 

10 

1 

2 

6 

6 

10 

1 

2 

6 

6 

10 

19 Posts filled as of 31.12.2022 include six offers made and accepted (1 AD8, 2 AD5, 2 AST4, 1 AST/SC1). 

1 

2 

6 

6 

10 

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Year 2022 

Year 2023 

Year 2024 

Year 2025 

Year 2026 

Authorised budget 

Actually filled as of 
31/12/202219 

Authorised budget 

Envisaged 

Envisaged 

Envisaged 

Permanent 
posts 

Temporary 
posts 

Permanent 
posts 

Temporary 
posts 

Permanent 
posts 

Temporary 
posts 

Permanent 
posts 

Temporary 
posts 

Permanen
t posts 

Temporary 
posts 

Permanent 
posts 

Temporary 
posts 

15 

13 

7 

62 

5 

5 

215 

215 

11 

26 

3 

1 

1 

60 

1 

4 

5 

206 

206 

15 

17 

3 

62 

5 

5 

222 

222 

15 

19 

1 

1 

61 

2 

4 

6 

225 

225 

15 

19 

1 

1 

61 

2 

4 

6 

225 

225 

15 

19 

1 

1 

61 

2 

4 

6 

225 

225 

Function 
group and 
grade 

AST 5 

AST 4 

AST 3 

AST 2 

AST 1 

AST TOTAL 

AST/SC 6 

AST/SC 5 

AST/SC 4 

AST/SC 3 

AST/SC 2 

AST/SC 1 

AST/SC 
TOTAL 

TOTAL 

GRAND 
TOTAL 

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External personnel 

Contract agents 

Contract agents 

Function Group IV 

Function Group III 

Function Group II 

Function Group I 

TOTAL 

FTE 
corresponding 
to the 
authorised 
budget 2022 
76 

41 

12 

1 

130 

Seconded national experts 

Seconded National 
Experts 

TOTAL 

FTE 
corresponding 
to the 
authorised 
budget 2022 
5 

Executed FTE as 
of 31/12/2022 

Headcount as of 
31/12/202220 

68 

37 

11 

1 

117 

68 

37 

11 

1 

117 

FTE 
corresponding 
to the 
authorised 
budget 2023 
74 

FTE 
corresponding 
to the 
authorised 
budget 2024 
76 

FTE 
corresponding 
to the 
authorised 
budget 2025 
76 

FTE 
corresponding 
to the 
authorised 
budget 2026 
76 

38 

13 

1 

126 

38 

13 

1 

128 

38 

13 

1 

128 

38 

13 

1 

128 

Executed FTE as 
of 31/12/2022 

Headcount as 
of 
31/12/2022 

 4 

 4 

FTE 
corresponding 
to the 
authorised 
budget 2023 
5 

FTE 
corresponding 
to the 
authorised 
budget 2024 
5 

FTE 
corresponding 
to the 
authorised 
budget 2025 
5 

FTE 
corresponding 
to the 
authorised 
budget 2026 
5 

20 Posts filled as of 31.12.2022 include five offers made and accepted (three FGIV, two FGII). 

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Table A7. Recruitment forecasts N+1 following retirement/mobility or new requested posts 

(information on the entry level for each type of posts: indicative table) 

Job title at the Agency 

Head of Unit 

Deputy Head of Unit 

Head of Section 

Principal Expert 

Expert 

Scientific Officer 

Administration (e.g. HR, 
Procurement/Finance)/ IT Officers 
Officers in support functions (e.g. 
Communication, IT, Legal) 
Assistants/Specialists in support 
functions (e.g. HR, Finance, 
Procurement, IT) 
Administrative Assistants 

Office Assistants 

Type of contact (Official, TA or CA) 

Function group/grade of recruitment 
internal (Brackets) and external (single 
grade) foreseen for publication * 

Due to foreseen 
retirement/mobility 

New post requested due 
to additional tasks21 

Internal (brackets) 

External (brackets) 

Recruitment Function 
Group (I, II, III and IV) 

TA/Official 

CA 

1 

0 

2 

4 

6 

6 

2 

2 

8 

1 

2 

0 

0 

0 

1 

2 

2 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

AD 11 – AD 12 

AD 10 – AD 12 

AD 8 – AD 10 

AD 8 – AD 9 

AD 5 – AD 7 

- 

AST 4 – AST 6 

- 

- 

AD 11/ AD 12 

AD 10 

AD 8 

AD 8 

AD 5 

- 

AST 4 

- 

- 

AST/ SC 1 – AST/SC 3 

AST/ SC 1 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

FG IV 

- 

FG IV 

FG III 

- 

FG II 

21 Including posts for externally funded projects. 

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Annex 5. Human Resources (qualitative)  

Recruitment policy 

Temporary agents 

Type of key functions 
The establishment table focuses on the core functions of the Centre: the temporary agents. Temporary agents are 
foreseen to form the core capacity - i.e. operating the Centre. In addition, contract agents are recruited with a 
primary focus on support functions and as junior experts.  

The recruitment of highly qualified professionals in operational as well as administrative and management functions 
is of key importance. This is especially important, since ECDC is to be a Centre of excellence in a ‘knowledge 
sector’. Moreover, the Centre needs to cover a broad range of specialist areas (including specialists in 55 diseases 
and conditions, and large number of public health functions such as emerging infections, health determinants, 
burden of disease, training, response capacity, preparedness planning and disease surveillance and monitoring). 
This makes it essential to have access to a solid and broad base of the best professionals. Many positions are 
expert posts, specialising in specific fields of public health such as epidemiology and microbiology. In addition, the 
Centre requires expertise in areas such as mathematical modelling, biostatistics and data science/management. 
The expert resources in Europe, at senior level, in these fields are limited and therefore it is important to offer 
appropriate incentives and attractive conditions. 

The establishment table reflects the emphasis on building up internal expert capacity and attracting the best 
experts in the Centre’s fields of competence. Therefore roughly two thirds of the temporary agent posts are at 
administrator (AD) level, the majority of the posts intended for technical experts in the key fields of the Centre’s 
operations. The large number of AD staff is seen as possible since a support capacity is built up around temporary 
agents at assistant (AST) level for the core support functions. Another important part of the Centre’s administrative 
support capacity relies on contract agents. 

Selection procedure 
The selection procedure for temporary agents follows the Centre’s implementing rules on temporary agents, which 
are based on the model implementing rules valid for all agencies. According to these rules, the Centre applies a 
provision for internal selection. The Centre aims to carry out recruitment processes in an objective, transparent and 
highly efficient manner, respecting the candidate confidentiality as well as recruitment ethics. The focus is on 
selecting the best candidates with a high level of professional competency and motivation. Selection committees 
consist of at least three members, including a representative of the Staff Committee, and take into account gender 
and geographical balance as well as ECDC’s organigram. 

Entry grades 
Temporary agents are recruited at the levels of AST/SC 1, AST 1 to AST 4 for the assistant (AST) category and at 
the levels of AD 5 to AD 8 for the administrator (AD) category.  

Temporary agents at the Head of Unit level are mainly recruited at the AD 11 grade. Deputy Heads of Unit are 
mainly recruited at grade AD 10. Recruitment of temporary agents at grades AD 9, AD 10 and AD 11, or 
exceptionally, AD 12, remains within the 20% limit of the total of AD posts recruited annually over a five-year 
period. 

The balance between expert and principal expert staff (AD 5 and AD 8) is in line with the objective to attract 
experienced principal experts while at the same time recruiting experts who can grow professionally along with the 
Centre. These experts normally have a broader profile which supports the Centre’s aim of ensuring flexibility in its 
workforce with a view to the possibility of changing operational priorities. This will enable the Centre to have well-
balanced staffing, while ensuring the best expertise and being able to secure business continuity. 

When recruiting staff, the Centre may consider, where possible, using the full range of grades, as provided for in 
the statutory provisions. 

Given that the Centre focuses on recruiting many contract staff in supportive functions, it aims to recruit 
experienced senior administrative support staff at AST 4 level in order to coordinate the contract staff.  

Contract duration 
The contract duration for temporary agents is initially five years with a possibility of renewal of an additional five 
years and a possible second renewal resulting in a contract of indefinite duration. Temporary agent posts are 
normally identified as possible long-term employment posts. 

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Upon expiry, each contract is considered, on a case-by-case basis, for possible renewal, taking into account the 
requirements identified from the upcoming work programmes. 

Job profiles 
The Centre’s temporary agents are mainly recruited for: 

• 
• 
• 

Operational posts (technical experts in the operational units) 
Management posts 
Sensitive posts in administration - e.g. human resources, legal, finance, procurement, and ICT. 

The Centre’s temporary agents are mainly employed for following posts and corresponding entry grades: 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

AD 5-7 Experts in operational units, etc. 
AD 8 Principal Experts in operational units, Heads of Section, etc. 
AD 10 Deputy Heads of Unit  
AD 11-12 Heads of Unit 
AST/SC 1 Administrative Assistants 
AST 4 Procurement Officers, Finance Officers, Human Resources Officers, IT Security officers, IT Project 
managers, etc. 

Contract agents 

The Centre’s contract agents are mainly employed in the administrative unit, in projects and programmes. Those in 
support functions are important in order for the organisation to focus on its core tasks. Those in operational 
functions are crucial for the development of short-term operational projects, as well as ensuring junior technical 
support in the long-term operational disease programmes. 

Selection procedure 
The selection procedure for temporary agents follows the Centre’s implementing rules on contract agents, which 
are based on the model implementing rules valid for all agencies. The Centre aims to carry out recruitment 
processes in an objective, transparent and highly efficient manner, respecting candidate confidentiality as well as 
recruitment ethics. The focus is on recruiting and selecting the best candidates with a high level of professional 
competency and motivation. Selection committees consist of at least three members, including a representative of 
the Staff Committee, and take into account gender and geographical balance as ECDC’s organigram. 

Functions and contract duration 
Contract agent functions are defined according to two main categories: long-term and short-term functions as follows: 

• 

• 

Long term functions are assistant/officer posts in administrative support functions (financial assistants, 
assistants in missions and meetings, human resources assistants, assistant secretaries, legal officers, web 
editors, editors, etc) and junior experts in operational programmes of long-term nature. 
Short-term functions, which could be posts for projects. 

The contract duration is set as follows: 

• 

• 

Long-term contracts have an initial duration of five years, with a possibility for a renewal of an additional 
five years. A possible second renewal leads to an indefinite contract. 
The duration of short-term contracts depends on the nature of the function/project. 

Upon expiry, each contract is considered, on a case-by-case basis for possible renewal, taking into account the 
requirements identified from the upcoming work programmes. 

Job profiles 
The Centre’s contract agents are mainly recruited: 

• 
• 
• 

for administrative support functions; 
as junior experts in operational programmes; 
for projects. 

Contract agents are recruited within Function Group I – IV, precise grading being determined by the experience of 
the appointed candidate, in accordance with the Staff Regulations and the applicable implementing rules. 

The Centre’s contract agents are mainly employed in the following posts and corresponding grades: 

Logistics assistants, etc. 

FG I  
FG II   Office assistants, etc. 
FG III   Financial assistants, Human Resources specialists, Events assistants, etc. 
FG IV  

Junior experts in operational programmes/projects, Junior ICT developers, Editors, Legal officers, etc. 

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Seconded national experts 

Article 29 (3) of the Centre’s Founding Regulation provides for the ‘Secondment to the Centre of public health 
experts, including epidemiologists, for a defined period of time, for the achievement of certain specified tasks of 
the Centre will be encouraged within the framework of existing regulations.’ On this basis, the Centre has adopted 
a decision laying down the rules concerning seconded national experts at ECDC.  

Seconded National Experts (SNEs) are considered an important resource, bringing expertise in specific areas within 
the Centre’s mandate and facilitating the development of links with Member States. Seconded National Experts 
mainly come to the Centre at Principal Expert level, working on operational activities. 

Structural service providers 

Structural service providers (consultants) are brought in to carry out ICT projects and tasks to support the 
functioning of the Agency. This includes functions such as ICT infrastructure (ICT front office and back office), data 
management and projects involving software development and implementation of IT systems. 

Through open calls for tender, the Centre has framework contracts covering ICT services/consultancy and data 
management.  

Interims are used as temporary replacements covering maternity, parental and sick leave, unfilled vacancies and, in 
exceptional circumstances, for support in peak periods. Through an open call for tender, the Centre has framework 
contracts with interim agencies. 

Implementing rules in place 

Yes  No 

If no, which other implementing rules 
are in place 

Engagement of CA 

Engagement of TA 

Middle management 

Type of posts 

Model Decision 
C(2019)3016 
Model Decision 
C(2015)1509 
Model decision 
C(2018)2542 
Model Decision 
C(2018)8800 

X 

X 

X 

X 

Appraisal and reclassification/promotions 

Implementing rules in place 

Reclassification of TA 

Reclassification of CA 

Model Decision 
C(2015)9560 
Model Decision 
C(2015)9561 

X 

x 

Yes  No 

If no, which other implementing rules 
are in place 

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Table A8. Reclassification of TA/promotion of officials 

Average seniority in the grade among reclassified staff 

Grades 

Year 
2018 

Year 
2019 

Year 
2020 

Year 
2021 

Year 
2022 

Actual 
average over 
five years 

Average over five years 
(according to Decision 
C(2015)9563) 

AD05 

7.5 

5.3 

3.3 

3.1 

4.4 

AD06 

4.9 

3.0 

3.0 

6.4 

4 

AD07 

N/A 

3.0 

3.0 

3.0 

4.2 

AD08 

4.6 

5.0 

4.0 

3.5 

4.2 

AD09 

4.4 

N/A 

N/A 

3.5 

N/A 

AD10 

4.3 

5.8 

5.0 

3.0 

5.4 

AD11 

N/A 

5.0 

N/A 

2.6 

6 

AD12 

3.2 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

10.8 

AD13 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

AST1 

7.6 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

AST2 

3.0 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

AST3 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

AST4 

5.7 

N/A 

3.8 

2.8 

11.9 

AST5 

5.8 

5.8 

6.4 

5.0 

AST6 

4.8 

N/A 

5.0 

3.0 

6 

6 

AST7 

N/A 

4.8 

N/A 

6.8 

N/A 

AST8 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

AST9 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

AST10 
(Senior 
assistant) 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

AST/SC1 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

3.3 

N/A 

AST/SC2 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

AST/SC3 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

AST/SC4 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

AST/SC5 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

4.4 

4.3 

3.7 

4.2 

4 

4.4 

4.5 

7 

N/A 

7.6 

3 

N/A 

5.8 

5.8 

4.4 

5.8 

4.5 

N/A 

N/A 

3.3 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

72 

2.8 

2.8 

2.8 

3 

4 

4 

4 

6.7 

6.7 

3 

3 

3 

3 

4 

4 

4 

4 

N/A 

5 

4 

5 

5.9 

6.7 

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Table A9. Reclassification of contract staff 

Function 
Group 

Grade 

Staff in activity 
as of 1 January 
2020 

How many staff 
members were 
reclassified in 
2021? 

Average number 
of years in grade 
of reclassified 
staff members 

Average number of years 
in grade of reclassified 
staff members according 
to Decision C(2015)9561 

CA IV 

CA III 

CA II 

CA I 

17 

16 

15 

14 

13 

11 

10 

9 

8 

6 

5 

4 

2 

1 

5 

11 

38 

3 

6 

9 

19 

3 

2 

8 

2 

1 

3 

7 

1 

1 

1 

5.3 

5.9 

7.3 

5.3 

5.9 

Between six and 10 years 

Between five and seven years 

Between four and six years 

Between three and five years 

Between three and five years 

Between six and ten years 

Between five and seven years 

Between four and six years 

Between three and five years 

Between six and 10 years 

Between five and seven years 

1 

4.2 

Between three and five years 

Between six and 10 years 

Between three and five years. 

Gender representation 
Table A10. Data regarding statutory staff as at 31 December 2022 (only officials, TA and CA)22 

Official 

Temporary 

Contract Agents 

Grand Total 

Staff  % 

Staff  % 

Staff  % 

Staff 

% 

Female  Administrator level 

Assistant level 
(AST & AST/SC) 
Total 

Male 

Administrator level 

Assistant level 
(AST & AST/SC) 
Total 

Grand 
Total 

0 

0 

0 

71 

37 

35.5% 

18.5% 

108 

54.0% 

67 

25 

33.5% 

12.5% 

48 

42 

90 
31 

10 

36.6% 

119 

36.0% 

32.1% 

79 

23.9% 

68.7% 

198 

59.8% 

23.7% 

7.6% 

98 

35 

29.6% 

10.6% 

92 

46.0% 

41 

31.3% 

133 

40.2% 

200 

100% 

131 

100% 

331 

100% 

22 Without offers made and accepted and including externally funded project posts. 

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Table A11. Data regarding gender evolution of the Middle and Senior management over five years 23 

N-5 (2018) 

N-1 (2022) 

Number 

% 

Number 

% 

Female managers 

Male managers 

2 

4 

33% 

67% 

2 

4 

33% 

67% 

There were no changes in the composition of the middle and senior management population at ECDC in 2022. It 
should be noted that, in view of the small number of middle managers and the long tenure (contract is for five 
years and renewable) it is difficult to take specific measures, other than the Director taking into consideration the 
gender balance at the time of appointment. The appointment of the Director is a matter for the Commission and 
ECDC’s Management Board. 

23 Staff who are defined as middle managers according to the General Implementing provisions on middle management. 

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Geographical balance 

Explanatory figures to highlight nationalities of staff (split into Administrator/CA FG IV and 
Assistant/CA FG I, II, III)  

Table A12. Data as at 31 December 2022 - statutory staff only (officials, AT and CA) 

Nationality 

Austria 

Belgium 

Bulgaria 

Croatia 

Cyprus 

Czech Republic 

Denmark 

Estonia 

Finland 

France 

Germany 

Greece 

Hungary 

Ireland 

Italy 

Latvia 

Lithuania 

Luxembourg 

Malta 

Netherlands 

Poland 

Portugal 

Romania 

Slovakia 

Slovenia 

Spain 

Sweden 

United Kingdom 

AD + CA FG IV 

Number  % of total 

staff 
members in 
AD and FG IV 
categories 
0.0% 

3.7% 

2.3% 

0.9% 

0.0% 

0.5% 

1.8% 

0.0% 

5.1% 

9.7% 

9.2% 

8.8% 

1.4% 

1.8% 

6.0% 

1.4% 

2.3% 

0.0% 

0.9% 

3.2% 

2.8% 

3.7% 

7.8% 

0.5% 

0.5% 

4.1% 

21.7% 

0.0% 

0 

8 

5 

2 

0 

1 

4 

0 

11 

21 

20 

19 

3 

4 

13 

3 

5 

0 

2 

7 

6 

8 

17 

1 

1 

9 

47 

0 

AST/SC- AST + CA FGI/CA 
FGII/CA FGIII 

Number  % of total staff 
members in AST 
SC/AST and FG I, 
II and III 
categories 
0.0% 

0 

2 

0 

3 

0 

1 

2 

2 

3 

5 

8 

4 

1 

1 

11 

2 

1 

0 

0 

3 

10 

2 

12 

0 

1 

3 

35 

2 

1.8% 

0.0% 

2.6% 

0.0% 

0.9% 

1.8% 

1.8% 

2.6% 

4.4% 

7.0% 

3.5% 

0.9% 

0.9% 

9.6% 

1.8% 

0.9% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

2.6% 

8.8% 

1.8% 

10.5% 

0.0% 

0.9% 

2.6% 

30.7% 

1.8% 

TOTAL24 

Number  % of 
total 
staff 

0 

10 

5 

5 

0 

2 

6 

2 

14 

26 

28 

23 

4 

5 

24 

5 

6 

0 

2 

10 

16 

10 

29 

1 

2 

12 

82 

2 

0.0% 

3.0% 

1.5% 

1.5% 

0.0% 

0.6% 

1.8% 

0.6% 

4.2% 

7.9% 

8.5% 

6.9% 

1.2% 

1.5% 

7.3% 

1.5% 

1.8% 

0.0% 

0.6% 

3.0% 

4.8% 

3.0% 

8.8% 

0.3% 

0.6% 

3.6% 

24.8% 

0.6% 

Total 

217 

100.0% 

114 

100.0% 

331 

100.0% 

Table A13. Evolution over five years of the most represented nationality at the Agency 

Most represented 
nationality 

N-5 (2018) 

N-1 (2022) 

Number 

% 

Number 

% 

Sweden 

58 

21.9 % 

82 

24.8 % 

The increased percentage of Swedish nationals compared to five years ago is largely due to staff members with UK 
nationality obtaining Swedish citizenship following Brexit.  

24 Without offers made and accepted. 

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Schooling 

Agreement in place with the European School(s)  

Contribution agreements signed with the EC on type I 
European schools 

Contribution agreements signed with the EC on type II 
European schools 

Number of service contracts in place with international 
schools: 

Description of any other solutions or action in place: 

No 

x 

No 

x 

Yes 

Yes 

N/A 

There are a number of international schooling alternatives available in the region where the Centre is 
located (international schools, German, British, French and Finnish schools). There is no European school in 
Stockholm. 

Public schools, whether Swedish or international, are free of charge. Private school fees are high, although 
national grants per student reduce fees. However, the Stockholm International School, a private school 
located in Stockholm city centre, charges very high fees and the double educational allowance only covers a 
small part of these fees. 

It should be noted that the seat agreement between the Centre and the Swedish government provides for 
the possibility to consider a European section or school. 

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Annex 6. Environmental management 

ECDC measures to ensure cost-effective and environment-
friendly working place 
ECDC’s premises have been environmentally certified as a ‘Green building’ since 2018. In December 2020, the 
building received the environmental certification ‘BREEAM Very Good’. The Building Research Establishment 
Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) is the world’s leading sustainability assessment method for master 
planning projects, infrastructure, and buildings.  

After applying for EU Eco-Management Audit Scheme (EMAS) certification, ECDC will continuously improve its 
sustainable performance and monitor progress on an annual basis. The implementation of EMAS began in October 
2019, when ECDC performed its first environmental assessment, and certification is expected in 2024. The 
environmental assessment established that travel related to missions, meetings, recruitments, and trainings 
represented the main source of CO2 emissions for ECDC.  

ECDC measures to reduce the environmental impact of its 
operations 
A total of 100% of ECDC’s electricity is provided by hydro-powered energy. The Centre’s premises are equipped 
with energy-efficient glass windows, optimising daylight admission and reducing solar heat. Light sources are 
mostly LED, with occupancy sensors and daylight control systems. Over time, ECDC has introduced touchless taps, 
helping to reduce up to 70% of water consumption. 

ECDC continues to improve its new recycling system, with separation of waste into paper, plastic, glass, organic, 
metal, e-waste, toners, light and bulbs, batteries, corrugated cardboard and boxes. In addition, ECDC asks some of 
its suppliers to provide documentation proving that they follow environmentally sustainable practices and it 
purchases eco-labelled products (such as stationary and cleaning detergents).  

To reduce the environmental impact of transport, the Centre encourages its staff to commute sustainably, by 
providing facilities for bicycles and offering good connections to public transport. ECDC’s sustainable travel 
guidelines aim to improve ECDC’s sustainability, reducing its carbon emissions and the number of trips taken on its 
behalf, by focusing on business-critical travel only and, if travel is necessary, by ensuring that the most 
environmentally friendly travel options are chosen.  

ECDC plans environmental objectives for 2024 
As an agency of the European Union, ECDC recognises its responsibility towards the environment and the 
importance of implementing measures to control and lower the environmental impact of its operations. In 2024, 
ECDC will continue improving its environmental performance and through its actions, it will contribute to the 
achievement of environmental agreements and their objectives to set CO2 reduction targets. Following the 
deployment of the EMAS framework, ECDC will develop specific targets in various areas of its operations. 

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Annex 7. Building policy 

SURFACE AREA (in 
m²) 

RENTAL CONTRACT 

Host 
country 
(grant or 
support) 

Break
out 
clause 
Y/N 

Conditions 
attached to 
the 
breakout 
clause (if 
applicable) 

Y 

Termination 
notice period 
12 months 

No 

No. 

Building 
name and 
type 

Location 

1 

ECDC 
Premises 
(Hilton 3 
building) 

Gustav 
III:s 
Boulevard 
40, 169 
73, Solna, 
Sweden 

Office 
space 

Non- 
office 
space 

Total 

RENT 
(€/year) 

Duration 
of 
contract 

Type 

4.905 
sqm 

4.502 
sqm 

9.407 
sqm 

SEK 
19 491 840 
(ca. 1 902 793 
EUR/year)25 

15 
years 

After 15 
years, two 
renewals 
of five 
years 
each 

25 January 2023 exchange rate. 

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Annex 8. Privileges and immunities 

Agency privileges 

Privileges granted to staff 

Protocol of privileges and 
immunities/diplomatic status 

Education/daycare 

The Agency enjoys the 
privileges stipulated in 
Protocol No. 7 on the 
Privileges and Immunities 
of the European Union 
(Articles 1 to 4 of the 
Protocol) 

Articles 11 to 15 of the Protocol on the Privileges 
and Immunities of the European Union are 
applicable to the staff of the Centre. 

This includes: 
• 

Immunity from jurisdiction for acts carried 
out by them in their official capacity. 
•  Exemption from regulations restricting 
immigration and formalities for the 
registration of foreigners. 

•  Right to import household effects from their 
last country of residence or from the country 
of which they are nationals. 

The Director of the Centre and the Deputy to the 
Director, together with their families, are granted 
the immunities and privileges accorded to heads 
of diplomatic missions and members of their 
families. 

Family members of staff have 
access to daycare/education in 
accordance with Swedish 
legislation. 

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Annex 9. Evaluations 

External evaluation 
ECDC’s amended Founding Regulation requires the Commission to arrange an independent external evaluation of 
the Centre’s performance in relation to its objectives, mandate, tasks, and procedures by 2025, and every five 
years thereafter.  

In 2018, ECDC launched its third external evaluation. The report and recommendations were published on ECDC’s 
website in 2020. The report was also shared with the EU institutions. Some of the accepted recommendations have 
been addressed through the changes to ECDC’s mandate, while others have been addressed jointly with the 
actions resulting from the external assessment of ECDC’s response to the pandemic, as reported to the 
Management Board in March 2021, and their implementation was finalised by the end of 2021. 

Internal evaluations 
ECDC has a procedure for the internal evaluation of its activities and outputs since 2015. Every year at least one of 
ECDC’s projects/programmes or products have been assessed. The following internal evaluations have taken place: 

• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 

2015: ECDC assessment of the ECDC IT general governance 
2016: evaluation of the deployment of ECDC experts in Africa 
2017-onwards: start of the evaluation of the ECDC Disease Programmes, with the development of a 
common protocol for all disease programme evaluations. The evaluated programmes were Influenza and 
other Respiratory Viruses (IRV) in 2018, Food and Waterborne Diseases (FWD) in 2019, and Tuberculosis in 
2020; – outsourced.  
2018: evaluation of ECDC’s Intranet 
2019: evaluation of the Document Management System – outsourced. 
2019: evaluation of ECDC Fellowship Programme – outsourced. 
2018-2020: EPHESUS (evaluation of the surveillance systems) – outsourced. 
2019-2020: TB programme – outsourced. 
2020: Strategic and performance analysis of ECDC’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic - outsourced. 
2021: Evaluation of ESCAIDE – outsourced. 
2022: Evaluation of cooperation with CDCs with which ECDC has bilateral arrangements in the form of 
memordandums of understanding or administrative arrangements – outsourced. 
2023: Partnership project ECDC4AfricaCDC – outsourced. 
2024: Eurosurveillance, ECDC outsourcing/procurement – outsourced. 

In addition, in 2022 the Centre worked on a specific guidance for internal evaluation of public health emergency 
events, including training for those staff members performing the function of internal evaluators. 

All evaluations are linked to the activities in the Single Programming Document. Evaluations are generally 
conducted ex-post or mid-term. Evaluations are usually carried out for interventions such as activities, 
programmes, projects, processes, the work of disease networks and more generic functions performed by the 
Centre (e.g. preparedness, epidemic intelligence, procurement). 

The Financial Regulation (Article 29) requires regular ex-ante, interim or ex-post evaluations for certain interventions. 
Ex-ante evaluations are covered by Project Initiation Requests, discussed and approved by Head of Units. 

An indicative three-year multi-annual evaluation plan is approved by the Director, after consultation of the relevant 
internal stakeholders. It is drawn up taking into consideration the life cycle of the interventions, the operational and 
strategic needs of the Units, general requirements for evaluation, and any specific requirement for evaluation, as 
set out in the legal basis for the intervention. The objective is that key interventions addressing external parties are 
periodically evaluated in proportion to the resources allocated and the expected impact. The timing of evaluations 
must enable the results to be fed into decisions on the design, renewal, modification, or suspension of activities. 
The criteria applied to rank and select potential evaluation topics are strategic or reputational impact, recurrent 
activities and programmes/projects with substantial annual budget, need for improvement or interest. The present 
evaluation plan was reviewed in 2023 in the light of the amended ECDC Founding Regulation and the EU 
Regulation on Serious Cross-Border Threats to Health. 

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Stakeholder surveys 
In 2015, ECDC launched its first stakeholder survey, targeting members of the Management Board, Advisory 
Forum, Competent Bodies, National Focal Points, and relevant external stakeholders (EU institutions, relevant EU 
agencies and international organisations). A second survey was carried out in 2016. The next stakeholder survey, 
which was postponed to avoid duplication with the third external evaluation of ECDC and the external ‘Strategic 
and performance analysis of ECDC’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic’ performed in 2020, took place during the 
summer of 2022. The final report was shared with ECDC’s Management Board in March 2023, and the action plan 
was presented in June 2023. ECDC will follow up the implementation of these actions and report regularly to the 
Management Board. The next stakeholder survey should take place in 2024, however this would coincide with the 
planned external evaluation of the Centre, and therefore it will be postponed to 2026.  

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Annex 10. Strategy for the organisational 
management and internal control systems 

Organisational management 
The main objective of the ECDC Integrated Management Framework is to ensure that ECDC is managed effectively 
and efficiently through a complete and integrated system for the following elements: governance, organisational 
performance management, quality management, and internal control framework. 

Governance framework 
The governance framework ensures that the Centre is compliant with the existing governance-related regulations 
and that the internal governance is effective and efficient. It includes elements such as organisational structure of 
the Centre, responsibility levels, decision-making process, delegations, accountability, and compliance with laws 
and regulations. 

Based on the existing legal framework (Regulation Establishing a European centre for disease prevention and 
control, ECDC Financial Regulation and Staff Regulations), the main governing bodies of the Centre are the 
Management Board, Advisory Forum, and the Director. 

The Centre reports to the Management Board, whose members are nominated by the Member States, the 
European Parliament, and the European Commission. The Management Board appoints the Director, ensures that 
the Centre carries out its mission and monitors the implementation of ECDC’s work programme and budget. The 
Management Board sets up an Audit Committee to assist in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities for the financial 
reporting process, the system of internal control, and the audit process.  

The Advisory Forum advises the Director on the quality of the scientific work that ECDC undertakes.  

Each EU Member State also has a designated Coordinating Competent Body that interacts with ECDC on high-level, 
strategic, and technical and operational matters.  

The Director is the legal representative of the Centre. One of the Director’s main responsibilities is to ensure that 
the Centre carries out its tasks in accordance with the requirements of its stakeholders, to implement the decisions 
adopted by the Management Board, and the day-to-day administration of the Centre.  

The Director ensures the organisation of the Centre through the respective administrative decisions, which set out 
the areas of responsibility of each Unit and section, together with their mission statements and roles.  

The decision-making process is captured through the integration of the governance and quality management 
frameworks. While the Director mainly makes formal decisions in the form of the Administrative Decisions, the 
decisions on policies, processes, procedures, and work instructions take the form of ECDC instructional documents, 
covered by the Quality Management Framework.  

The Director has delegated some of the decision-making powers to ensure that the Centre is run effectively and 
efficiently. Budgetary implementation powers are delegated to the Heads of Units, mainly through annual 
delegations, in accordance with ECDC’s Financial Regulation. In the event of the Director’s absence, the decision-
making powers can also be delegated to one of the Heads of Units. 

ECDC has also set up internal governance bodies to assist the Director, such as the Director’s Consultation Group, 
Steering Committees, Working Groups, and Task Forces.  

Organisational Performance Management Framework 
The Organisational Performance Management Framework captures planning, monitoring and reporting undertaken 
at ECDC to ensure that all the Centre’s activities contribute to implementing ECDC’s long-term strategy, ultimately 
fulfilling ECDC’s mission. The different elements of the framework help to align staff, resources, and systems to 
meet the annual and multi-annual objectives. 

The Centre’s operational activities are implemented either through internal work or through outsourcing 
(procurement procedures or grants) and meetings. They take the form of recurrent activities or projects. The 
detailed planning of all activities is managed and monitored in an electronic management system. All staff can 
access the system and obtain (near) real-time information on activities across the Centre.  

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Like other EU decentralised agencies, ECDC is required to present its human and financial resources by activity in 
both the planning phase (Activity Based Budget, ABB in the Single Programming Document and its annual 
consumption (Activity-Based Costing, ABC in the Consolidated Annual Activity Report (CAAR)).  

The implementation of the annual work programme is regularly monitored and presented to ECDC’s Management 
Board. Each year, the Director reports on the implementation of the Single Programming Document, including the 
results of the Key Performance Indicators, in the CAAR. The Report is adopted by the Management Board and 
serves as a basis for the annual discharge procedure. 

Quality Management Framework 
The Quality Management Framework aims to ensure greater relevance and quality of the organisational outputs 
and more effective and efficient processes and operations, while building a mind-set of continuous improvement. 
Following a pilot in the Executive Office, ECDC has initiated the implementation of a single, uniform and 
organisation-wide integrated quality management system based on ISO 9001:2015 standard. 

A new instructional document set-up has been gradually implemented to achieve consistent, up-to-date 
documentation at the Centre. Preparatory work to reflect the mandate changes in the ECDC process landscape 
began in 2022 and will continue throughout 2024 with a process review, automation and optimisation work.  

ECDC Internal Control Framework 
To support the internal control system, ECDC has an Internal Control Framework (ICF) in place.  

The ICF is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of the five objectives set out in 
Article 30 of ECDC’s Financial Regulation: 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

effectiveness, efficiency and economy of operations; 
reliability of reporting; 
safeguarding of assets and information; 
prevention, detection, correction and follow-up of fraud and irregularities; 
adequate management of the risks relating to the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions, 
taking into account the multiannual character of programmes and the nature of the payments concerned. 

This framework supplements the ECDC Financial Regulation and other applicable rules and regulations, with a view 
to aligning ECDC standards to the highest international standards. The framework implemented by the Commission 
served as a base for defining the principles and their characteristics. 

The Internal Control Framework is based on the five internal control components: 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

the control environment; 
risk assessment; 
control activities; 
information and communication; 
monitoring activities. 

These components are the building blocks that underpin the framework’s structure and support the Agency in its 
efforts to achieve its objectives. The five components are interrelated and must be present and functioning at all 
levels of the organisation for internal control over operations to be considered effective.  

In order to facilitate the implementation of the Internal Control System and management’s assessment of whether 
each component is present and functioning and whether the components function well together, each component 
must comply with several principles. Working with these principles helps provide reasonable assurance that the 
organisation’s objectives are met. The principles specify the actions required for internal control to be effective. 

For each principle, a number of characteristics have been defined and for each characteristic, indicators have been 
defined, as well as target values.  

Internal control principle 16 states that the assessment of internal control is founded both on ongoing (continuous) 
monitoring and specific (periodical) assessments to ascertain whether the internal control systems and their 
components are present and functioning.  

ECDC carries out an overall assessment of the presence and functioning of all internal control components, 
principles and characteristics at least once per year. An action plan is developed for any improvements needed, 
stating the section responsible, the necessary improvement, and an appropriate target date. 

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As part of the process for the Director’s Declaration of Assurance, the Director takes an overall conclusion. The 
building blocks for the assurance, the overall conclusion and any reservations are included in the Director’s Annual 
Report/Consolidated Annual Activity Report.  

ECDC anti-fraud strategy 
ECDC has devised an anti-fraud strategy for the period 2021−2023.  

A review of the underlying fraud risk assessment is performed annually and this is also used as a basis for defining 
future anti-fraud strategies. 

In the latest anti-fraud strategy ECDC has decided to concentrate its efforts on achieving the following strategic 
objectives: 

Objective 1: Internal anti-fraud training. 

Objective 2: Perform an annual review and refine the fraud risk assessment over time. 

Objective 3: Select an area annually in which to further analyse and potentially improve the controls in place. 

The implementation of the anti-fraud strategy is followed-up annually as a minimum.  

ECDC Independence Policy 
On the basis of ECDC’s Founding Regulation, the ECDC Management Board adopted the Independence Policy for 
Non-Staff in March 2018, and the Independence Policy for ECDC Staff in December 2019. The ECDC Compliance 
Officer is in charge of implementing these policies on the basis of the relevant internal procedures. 

With regard to the Independence Policy for Non-staff, there is a systematic review of the interests declared 
annually by members of the Management Board, the Advisory Forum, the Eurosurveillance Board and, when 
scientific advice is provided, by the experts participating in ECDC networks, meetings or publications. If relevant, 
the Compliance Officer suggests mitigation measures, particularly when pharmaceutical companies are involved. 

The Independence Policy for Staff involves ECDC’s Director and the Heads of Unit declaring their interests on an 
annual basis and these are then published on ECDC’s website to ensure full transparency. In addition, ECDC’s 
Director is required to draw up a list of categories of staff who need to submit an Annual Declaration of Interest. 
The consultation step was finalised in 2021 and the Director’s decision was taken in December 2022. The 
implementation of the policy for staff based on this Director’s Decision began in the first quarter of Q1 2023 and 
was successfully finalised in quarter 2 of 2023. For newcomers, the Compliance Officer follows the implementation 
of the policy on a continuous basis. The Director’s Decision will be revised in the fourth quarter of 2023 based on 
the experience gained. 

Ex-post verifications and audits 
ECDC has a system in place to perform ex-post verifications of grant agreements. A grant verification plan is 
developed and implemented every year. ECDC also has a grant agreement control strategy in place. 

ECDC is audited by the European Court of Auditors and the European Commission’s Internal Audit Service. 

Risk assessment for the Single Programming Document 2024 
While preparing the draft Single Programming Document 2024−2026, ECDC conducted a risk self-assessment exercise in 
order to identify the main risks that could have an impact on the implementation of the Single Programming Document 
2024. The following main risks were identified: 

Risk of Single Programming Document implementation suffering from a public health emergency (PHE) 
event or being impacted by other unforeseen additional political or public-health-prioritised activities. 
Although there is preparedness at ECDC for scaling down activities, it would still imply that ECDC would not 
be able to implement a part of the Single Programming Document as planned.  
Amendments to the Founding Regulation/mandate have changed the resources and competences needed at 
ECDC. In the short term, it may be difficult to adapt the organisation to the new Regulation/mandate. In 
addition, the revised ECDC Strategy and the change of Director in 2024 could have an impact on the 
organisation temporarily in 2024. 
Cyber security risk. There is a risk that a cyber security attack targeting ECDC may lead to leaks, damage or 
loss of information and/or critical IT services. This could result in the inability or unwillingness of Member 
States to participate in ECDC’s activities, such as the reporting of data.  

• 

• 

• 

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• 

• 

Lack of resources to implement the activities agreed in the contribution agreements signed with the 
European Commission. 
Any budget cuts in the 2024 budget and/or cuts of posts in the establishment table 2024, would have a 
negative impact on the Single Programming Document . Similarly, any large change in the exchange rate 
(SEK/EURO) risks having an impact on the budget implementation and thereby also the execution of the 
Single Programming Document (e.g. increases in the prices paid by ECDC to suppliers, and significant 
increases in salary expenditure due to potentially high levels of inflation.) 

The following actions were identified as forms of mitigation: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

ECDC will closely monitor the impact of any PHE events on the activities included in the Single Programming 
Document 2024 and make the appropriate changes throughout the year. Important changes will be 
discussed and approved at the Management Board. Deadline: Q1 2024 − Q4 2024. 
ECDC will closely follow and liaise with the European Commission and other stakeholders on the 
implementation of the amended ECDC Founding Regulation/mandate, the revised Strategy and the 
recruitment process for a new Director. Deadline: Q1 2024 – Q4 2024. 
ECDC will increase cyber security by implementing both technical and organisational security measures, 
which should reduce the risk to an acceptable level. Deadline: Q1 2024 – Q4 2024. 
ECDC will closely monitor and liaise with the European Commission and the partners in the contribution 
agreements on the possibility of implementing all the agreed activities. If necessary, ECDC will look into 
additional resources – e.g. through the employment of seconded national experts and/or interim staff. 
Deadline: Q1 2024 – Q4 2024. 
ECDC will closely follow the effects of price increases by suppliers, and increases in salary expenditure 
during the implementation of the Single Programming Document 2024 and the 2024 budget. Deadline: Q1 
2024 – Q4 2024. 

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Annex 11. Plan for procurements 2024 

Table A14. Plan of operational procurements per Strategic Objective 

Main planned acquisitions 

Indicative 
budget for 
operational 
procurements 
2024 

Strategic Objective 1: Maintain the independence and rigour of scientific processes and strengthen the relevance 
and accessibility of scientific outputs to support public health policies and practices at national and EU levels. 

Summary of the planned acquisitions 

1.1 – Evidence-based public health, crowdsourcing, SARMS. 
1.2 – ECDC annual scientific conference ESCAIDE, Eurosurveillance and public health 
outputs, ECED (Candidate Expert Directory) further improvements. 
1.3 – ECDC Foresight Programme, identifying research priorities, modelling contract 
management. 
1.4 – Outreach, social media, ECDC website maintenance and further development. 
Strategic Objective 2: Provide relevant, reliable and timely information and science-based recommendations 
to enable evidence-informed decision-making at national and EU levels. 

5 065 300 

Total amount in 
EUR for SO1 

Summary of the planned acquisitions 

2.1 – Surveillance analysis, molecular surveillance, External Quality Assessment, VEBIS, 
surveillance, threat detection and alert (event-based surveillance), TESSy further 
development. 
2.2 – Scientific advice. 
2.3 – AI for epidemic intelligence activities, bioinformatic development and analysis, 
EpiPulse, European Health Data Space, public health dashboards. 
Strategic Objective 3: Support the development of plans, systems and capacities for prevention, 
preparedness and control of communicable diseases and related special health issues at national and EU levels. 

16 333 900 

Total amount in 
EUR for SO2 

Total amount in 
EUR for SO3 

Summary of the planned acquisitions 

3.1 – Building a community of practice in the social and behavioural sciences for the 
prevention of communicable diseases in the EU/EEA, EQAs and training, vaccine 
acceptance, behavioural insights and misinformation, EUROGASP, HIV, STI and viral 
hepatitis country support. 
3.2 – Early Warning and Response System (EWRS), emergency preparedness training for 
workforce capacity building, EpiPulse events and CDTR further development, EU Health 
Task Force, threat reports mobile application. 
3.3 – Fellowship Programme – EPIET & EUPHEM scientific coordination, synchronous 
training, methods and quality. 
Strategic Objective 4: Streamline coordination and collaboration with Member States, and other ECDC key 
partners in the EU and globally. 

8 486 900 

Summary of the planned acquisitions 

4.1 – Targeted country support activities, ECDC Stakeholder Relationship Management 
(SRM) system. 

Total amount in 
EUR for SO4 

810 400 

Strategic Objective 5: Create an acknowledged, agile organisation through efficient systems, structures, 
processes and skilled staff. 

Summary of the planned acquisitions 

5.3 – Further development of the Declarations of Interest. 
5.4 – IT operations, EU Confidential Information (EUCI) system implementation, European 
Federation Gateway Service (EFGS). 

Total amount in 
EUR for SO5 

4 486 500 

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Annex 12. Plan for grants, contributions, or service-level agreements 

General Information 

Financial and HR impact 

Actual or 
expected 
date of 
signature 
for specific 
agreement 

Total 
amount 
(EUR) 

Duration of 
FPA 
(Framework 
Partnership 
Agreement) 

Counterpart 

Short description 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

Q2 in 
2023, 
Q1 in 
2024, in 
2025. 

200 000/ 
year 

4 years 

Q1 each 
year 

550 000/ 
year 

4 Years 

ERLTB-Net 

Scientific 
coordination of 
ECDC 
Fellowship 
Programme 

ECDC 
Fellowship 
Programme: 
hosting of 
fellows 

Q1 & Q3 in 
2023, 2024 
and only 
Q3 from 
2025 
onwards. 

Various 
(2.0-2.5 
million/ 
year) 

4 Years 

Grant agreements 

Implementation of lab coordination 
activities, including lab network 
coordination, EQA, training, strain 
collection, typing, scientific advice and 
technical guidance on lab issues, as well 
as method harmonisation and network 
meetings. 

Scientific coordination of ECDC 
Fellowship Programme (Intervention 
Epidemiology (EPIET) and Public Health 
Microbiology (EUPHEM) paths). To 
ensure the availability of highly qualified 
scientific coordinators for the Fellowship 
Programme. 

ECDC Fellowship Programme 
(Intervention Epidemiology (EPIET) and 
Public Health Microbiology (EUPHEM) 
paths) hosting of fellows at training 
sites. To ensure that EU-track fellows 
can be employed by their training sites 
with the financial support of ECDC. 

Consortium 
led by 
Ospedale 
San Rafaele 
(one SGA per 
annum). 

On average 
eight specific 
agreements 
with different 
counterparts 
per annum. 

On average 
42 specific 
agreements 
in 2023, 35 
in 2024, 28 
in 2025 and 
onwards, 
with different 
counterparts 
per annum. 

TOTAL for grant agreements 

Amount (EUR) 

200 000 

200 000 

200 000 

200 000 

No. of FTEs 

0.5 

0.5 

0.5 

0.5 

No. of SNEs 

0 

0 

0 

0 

Amount (EUR) 

500 000 

550 000 

550 000 

550 000 

No. of FTEs 

1.60 

1.40 

1.40 

1.40 

No. of SNEs 

0 

0 

0 

0 

Amount (EUR) 

2 572 000 

2 346 000 

2 075 000 

2 075 000 

No. of FTEs 

1.65 

1.80 

1.80 

1.80 

No. of SNEs 

0 

0 

0 

0 

Amount (EUR) 

3 272 000 

3 096 000 

2 825 000 

2 825 000 

No. of FTEs 

3.75 

No. of SNEs 

0 

3.7 

0 

3.7 

0 

3.7 

0 

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Contribution agreements 

Preparatory measures for the 
participation of the Western Balkan 
countries and Türkiye in ECDC with 
special focus on One Health against 
AMR and enhanced SARI surveillance, 
2020-2024. 

The ECDC for Africa CDC action aims to: 
•  strengthen the capacities of Africa 

CDC in preparedness, risk 
assessment, rapid response and 
emergency operations; 

•  improve continental harmonised 
indicator- and event-based 
surveillance of infectious diseases, 
including platforms for data sharing 
and early detection of threats, as well 
as foundations for a sustainable 
trained public health workforce. 

The EU Initiative on Health Security 
aims to set up a regional competent 
workforce for the prevention and control 
of challenges posed by communicable 
diseases and to enhance regional 
cooperation to tackle cross-border 
health security threats in EU candidate 
and potential candidate (EU 
Enlargement) countries and European 
Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) partner 
countries. 

Reinforcement of the European 
Vaccination Information Portal (EVIP) 
through continuous and dynamic 
updates of the website, including new 
vaccine developments, links to reliable 
sources, content development and 
translation, and paid promotion of EVIP. 

Amount (EUR) 

No. of FTEs 

No. of SNEs 

Amount (EUR) 

No. of FTEs 

No. of SNEs 

0 

2 

0 

0 

8 

0 

Amount (EUR) 

0 

0 

2 

0 

0 

8 

0 

0 

0 

2 

0 

0 

8 

0 

0 

No. of FTEs 

11 

11 

11 

No. of SNEs 

0 

0 

0 

Amount (EUR) 

490 000 

90 000 

20 000 

No. of FTEs 

No. of SNEs 

2 

0 

2 

0 

2 

0 

IPA6 
contribution 
agreement 

10 
December 
2019 

2 500 000 

Five years 

European 
Commission 
– DG NEAR 

ECDC4Africa 
CDC 
contribution 
agreement 

19 October 
2020 

9 000 000 

Four years 

European 
Commission 
– DG INTPA 

EU Initiative on 
Health Security 
contribution 
agreement 

18 
December 
2020 

9 000 000 

Four years 

European 
Commission 
– DG NEAR 

Q4 2022 

1 000 000 

30 months 

European 
Commission 
– DG SANTE 

Reinforcement 
of EVIP 
through 
EU4Health 
contribution 
agreement 

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Improving and 
strengthening 
the EU Early 
Warning and 
Response 
System and 
National Alert 
and 
Information 
System 
(EWRS) 

Team Europe 
Initiative on 
sustainable 
health security 
using a One 
Health 
approach – 
workforce 
development 

None 

Contribution agreements (continued) 

2024 

10 000 000 

Five years 

European 
Commission 
– DG SANTE 

This action aims to upgrade the EWRS 
system to adapt to the new 
requirements for reporting of all health 
threats to EWRS and to integrate into 
other EU alert and information systems 
(AIS). EWRS will need to include new 
functionalities and modules with 
improved data security and data 
protection. 

Amount (EUR) 

2 000 000 

2 000 000 

2 000 000 

2 000 000 

No. of FTEs 

No. of SNE 

7 

0 

7 

0 

7 

0 

7 

0 

Q3/Q4 
2024 

TBC 

TBC 

This action aims to improve the skills, 
capacities and engagement of relevant 
professional groups from 
human/animal/environmental sectors 
and train new field epidemiologists in 
applying the ‘One-Health’ approach.  

European 
Commission 
– DG INTPA 

Amount (EUR) 

No. of FTEs 

No. of SNE 

TBC 

TBC 

TBC 

TBC 

TOTAL for contribution agreements 

Service-level agreements 

Amount (EUR) 

2 490 000 

2 090 000 

2 020 000 

2 000 000 

No. of FTEs 

No. of SNEs 

30 

0 

30 

0 

30 

0 

7 

0 

TOTAL for service-level agreements 

Amount (EUR) 

No. of FTEs 

No. of SNEs 

Amount (EUR) 

No. of FTEs 

No. of SNEs 

89 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Annex 13. Strategy for cooperation with third 
countries and international organisations 

Action Area 4.2 – Global health: work with international 
partners to enhance the preparedness and response to present 
and future public health threats at EU level and globally 
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that serious threats to health from communicable diseases are inherently 
cross-border and early lessons underline the importance of strong international cooperation and coordination with 
partners and, the sharing of data and knowledge to understand and respond to new threats in order to improve 
health security at the EU level and globally. This is reflected in the amended ECDC mandate, which includes 
enhancing the Centre’s contribution to the EU’s international cooperation and commitment to global health security 
preparedness. In light of these developments, ECDC intends to further intensify and expand its collaboration with 
European and international partners. 

ECDC will continue to provide technical assistance to countries bordering the EU to improve the detection, assessment 
and response to health threats caused by infectious diseases in these countries. This will be done through targeted 
support to Western Balkan countries, Türkiye and European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) partner countries.  

It is important to work across borders and strategically link major centres for disease prevention and control 
(CDCs), including those that already have a formal bilateral agreement with ECDC. Only global cooperation can 
ensure the rapid exchange of information between partners and provide a platform to develop common approaches 
to the prevention and control of infectious diseases.  

In the framework of external EU policies, ECDC’s expertise should be used to provide technical support to the 
European Commission. This will add factual knowledge to the Commission’s dialogues with bilateral partners, 
multilateral organisations, and global health initiatives (e.g. Global Health Security Agenda).  

Outside the EU borders, ECDC is one of many organisations working to fight infectious diseases. The European 
Commission, the European External Action Service (EEAS), WHO, with its Regional Offices, major CDCs, the World 
Bank, other UN organisations, and the public health authorities in the EU Member States also support non-EU 
countries in implementing the International Health Regulations (IHR) and reaching internationally agreed 
objectives and targets. Good coordination between partners will be essential to avoid overlaps, provide added 
value, find synergies, and ensure that action is taken. In this context, there is a clear potential for ECDC, in line 
with its commitment to continuous improvement, to support countries in strengthening their communicable disease 
prevention and control systems (long-term projects/capacity building) and crisis response in Europe and globally. 

Over the next few years, ECDC’s work on global health will focus on the following: 

EU candidate and potential candidate country integration into ECDC systems: ECDC will continue in close 
collaboration with the relevant Commission services to support the Western Balkan countries and Türkiye to 
prepare for participation in ECDC activities upon their accession to the EU, with a grant contribution from 
DG NEAR under the Pre-Accession Assistance (ECDC-IPA6 project) ‘Preparatory measures for the 
participation of Western Balkans and Türkiye in ECDC with special focus on One Health against AMR and 
enhanced SARI surveillance, 2020-2024’ and by undertaking follow up activities. 
Support to ENP partners, according to identified needs and EU policy priorities: The Centre will continue 
supporting the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) partner countries in strengthening their public health 
systems with a grant contribution from DG NEAR under the EU Initiative on Health Security 2020−2025. It 
will also ensure follow-up activities to improve countries’ capacities for early detection, assessment, and 
response to health threats from communicable diseases and to enhance regional cooperation, including 
public health workforce-oriented capacity-building activities and training courses to be delivered through the 
Mediterranean and Black Sea Programme for Field Epidemiology Training (MediPIET), covering both the 
Western Balkan countries, Türkiye and ENP partner countries.  
Collaboration with major centres for disease prevention and control: ECDC will continue and further 
strengthen its bilateral cooperation, including with those centres for disease prevention and control (CDCs) 
that already have formal bilateral arrangements (US CDC, China CDC, Public Health Agency of Canada, the 
Ministry of Health of Mexico, Korean CDC, and the United Kingdom Health Security Agency) and will develop 
a strategic plan for bilateral collaboration with other CDCs, in particular the Africa CDC and other 
supranational CDCs, as well as at multi-lateral level within the network of major CDCs. Together with major 
CDCs, ECDC will continue sharing information and expertise to respond effectively to threats posed by 
communicable diseases and explore further possibilities for establishing processes and procedures for the 
rapid exchange of information in outbreak situations. 

• 

• 

• 

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• 

• 

• 

The partnership with Africa CDC will continue, with a grant contribution from DG INTPA under the ‘EU for 
health security in Africa: ECDC for Africa CDC’ project, 2021−2024 The aim is to strengthen the Africa CDC’s 
capacities in preparedness and response to health threats, facilitate harmonised surveillance and disease 
intelligence, and support the implementation of Africa CDC’s public health workforce development strategy. 
This will build a sound foundation for a long-term strategic and technical partnership with Africa CDC in the 
framework of a memorandum of understanding.  
Coordination with WHO: collaboration with WHO will benefit from the renewed memorandum of 
understanding with the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Specific areas of collaboration have been 
identified, taking into account organisational and strategic priority changes for both organisations, including 
the amended ECDC mandate. ECDC will also define technical cooperation frameworks with other WHO 
Regional Offices and the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence.  
Collaboration with other international organisations: the Centre will also focus on sustainable partnerships 
with other international organisations that are active in public health emergencies (e.g. UN organisations, 
the World Bank and IANPHI). 

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