Plenary 3: Learning from the pandemic, and getting ready for the next one
Thursday 11 November 2021, 16:20 – 17:20 PM CET.
Organisers: European Commission and European Public Health Association (EUPHA).
Moderators:
- Isabel de la Mata, European Commission
- Dineke Zeegers Paget, European Public Health Association (EUPHA)
Speakers/panellists:
- Andrea Ammon, Director European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
- Sandra Gallina, Directorate General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE)
- Michael Edelstein, President EUPHA Infectious diseases control section
- Laura de la Torre Perez, Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Spain
- Kerstin Vesna Petrič, Director General, Directorate of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Slovenia
Covid-19 has shown us that most countries were not focusing their emergency preparedness plans in the correct direction. Covid-19 is a long-term health event, with serious impact on so many different sectors. Preparedness plans were conceived only for health events that are more explosive in initiation and resolution.
Governments of a wide range of levels of competency, and covering much of the political spectrum, all failed to address the pandemic effectively, both from the health point of view and from the social point of view. So, what can we learn from our successes and from our failures?
In a ‘learning from this pandemic’ round, we ask all panellists to reflect on the successes and failures (each 5 minutes). In a second round, we will be asking the panellists for their ideas on how to be better prepared for future pandemics. The final 5 minutes are for the next generation of public health professionals, summarizing the ‘take home’ messages.