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Preparedness and response

Risk management

The Commission is working closely with EU governments to ensure that their response to serious cross-border health threats is coherent and well coordinated.

The Commission's Health Security Initiative  includes a requirement for them to notify all types of threats at EU level, not only communicable diseases.

Health Security Committee

This body is used by the Commission to coordinate health-security measures in the EU. It was set up in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the US.

Over the years the Committee has established a solid base for preparedness activities, by:

  • enabling EU governments to exchange information and evaluate health events
  • functioning as a discussion forum that advises health ministers
  • facilitatinging coordinated crisis response by EU governments. 

Health Security Committee – priority issues & examples of activities

The committee is composed of representatives from each national administration, the Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Consumers and other relevant Commission departments and agencies (e.g. ECDC, EMA).

In 2011, the Commission sought to strengthen the committee's mandate by formalising its status, as part of its Health Security Initiative.