Communicable disease control in Europe : Malta

Abstract

Infectious diseases do not respect national boundaries, and international travel and trade increase the risk that an outbreak involves more than one country. The WHO has been responsible for collecting international data on infectious diseases and administering the International Health Regulations – the mainstay of the international response to communicable disease.New patterns of collaboration are developing to enable countries to respond appropriately to international threats to health. This has particularly been the case in Europe. The EU is a free trade area within which goods, people and their infections can circulate; several collaborations, largely been funded by the European Commission, have developed between national surveillance centres in response to this problem. These have shown some remarkable successes in identifying outbreaks that would probably not have been identified otherwise, in assisting in the response to international outbreaks and in developing the framework for international collaborative action. These collaborations are based around experts in particular infections and around infrastructure developments, such as training. There is a legal basis whereby national surveillance systems collaborate around a common list of diseases under surveillance, common case definitions and common laboratory methods. An Early Warning and Response System connects EU member states to communicate information on countermeasures and risks.