May 2005

Protecting Europe from epidemics: official inauguration of ECDC on 27 May

The EU's new health agency, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), will be inaugurated at a ceremony at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm on Friday 27 May.

Markos Kyprianou, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Mrs Zsuzsanna Jakab the Director of the ECDC and Morgan Johansson, the Swedish Public Health Minister will be among the speakers at the ceremony, which will be held at the prestigious Nobel Forum of the Karolinska Institutet starting at 10:00.

A press conference will take place immediately after the ceremony at 11:30. Journalists wishing to attend the press conference should contact [email protected]

Press contact for Mr. Kyprianou: Bjorn Kjellstrom, telephone +46 709 380 730 / email [email protected]

Press contact for MS Jakab: Helena Holland-Burman, telephone +46 8 734 20 50 / email [email protected]

Press contact for Mr. Johansson: Kicki M�ler, telephone +46 70 545 17 88 / email [email protected]

Press contact for Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson, President of Karolinska Institutet: Sabina Bossi, telephone +46 8 524 838 95/ email [email protected]

ECDC's Mission
The ECDC's mission is to help strengthen the EU's defences against infectious diseases, such as SARS, HIV/AIDS and influenza (see IP/04/190). It will do this by reinforcing and developing the EU's existing system of continent-wide disease surveillance, networking EU Member States' health expertise and providing authoritative scientific advice on new and emerging diseases. The ECDC's Director, Mrs Zsuzanna Jakab, was nominated by the Centre's Management Board in December 2004 (see IP/04/1472) and took up office on March 1st. Recruitment of the Centre's key scientific and administrative staff is now underway (see MEX/05/0329)

For further information about the ECDC see: http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph_overview/strategy/ecdc/ecdc_en.htm