Rendi-Wagner Warns of Next Pandemic

"The foundation for managing the next pandemic needs to be laid today," said Pamela Rendi-Wagner. The former Health Minister and ex-SPÖ leader has been the director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) since mid-June 2024, which is supposed to make a significant contribution to public health for EU member states, but also indirectly through intensive contacts with comparable institutions in other countries and continents (e.g. CDC/USA, Canada, China, Japan, ASEAN states, CDC/Africa).

Rendi-Wagner: "We Need More Public Trust"

"Without international cooperation in connection with infectious diseases, we are half blind," said Rendi-Wagner. The concept of "One Health", which considers aspects of veterinary and human medicine together, closes "blind spots". A current example is the spread of "bird flu" H5N1 in the USA and Canada, where the pathogens have penetrated into livestock farming including milk production. Overall, the expert said, it is necessary to learn from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and develop measures that will make countries and the world better prepared than it was in 2019/2020.

"We need to be faster. We need to work together better. We need more trust from the public," said Rendi-Wagner. Interestingly, the ECDC - essentially modelled on the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC/Atlanta) - was founded 20 years ago based on the experiences with SARS at the time. "Our ECDC was strengthened in 2022, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, by important EU decisions and given a new mandate in the fight against infectious diseases. We not only describe things, but we now also assess the situation and have been obliged to develop recommendations and guidelines," explained the ECDC director.

Demand for Better Integration of Various Data Sources

While the surveillance of the epidemiological development during the Covid-19 pandemic worked quite well in itself, the goal must be a better integration of various data sources, such as the addition of wastewater investigations. "The goal is real-time surveillance, so we know what is happening in which country, in which region. If we can provide answers faster, this also leads to more trust in the population." Communication needs to be more transparent and understandable. Applied to an Austrian example, it is about merging the data from the electronic patient record (ELGA) and the epidemiological reporting system (EMS) to monitor the epidemiological situation.

The ECDC is equipped with new agendas for EU member states and cooperation partners. "For the first time, we can carry out missions in the member states and analyse the level of pandemic preparedness. Six member states have already taken advantage of this," said Rendi-Wagner. If desired, a team of ten to twelve experts from other member states would locally carry out such an assessment on 16 subject areas.

However, their own "Health Task Forces" as expert groups would also increasingly be active internationally, said the ECDC director. "We have been active since the outbreak of Mpox (monkeypox; note) in Congo." Just recently, the Minister of Health of Rwanda requested the dispatch of an ECDC team to assess the situation around an outbreak of the Marburg virus in this country and to confirm the end of the outbreak. In addition, they are helping on the Western Balkans with the EU candidate countries there, in Turkey, Moldova and Ukraine to strengthen public health to the point where it can reach EU status.

Pandemic as a Threat to Social Cohesion

However, regaining and strengthening people's trust is very important. "The pandemic has shown us how quickly the trust of the population can be lost - in politics, in science, in medicine. Trust is needed before the crisis. But you also only trust someone you know. Clear and effective communication with people is needed. We must not hide behind our scientific language," said the expert.

The biggest problems for public health, apart from preparing for a possible next pandemic, are two issues according to Rendi-Wagner: "Antibiotic resistances are one of the biggest threats we have to deal with." Extremely worrying, however, are the declining vaccination rates against preventable infectious diseases in many EU countries. We should not be deceived: "Every health crisis and every pandemic not only threaten the health and lives of people. They also pose a threat to social cohesion."

(APA/red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.