Over the next five years, a major research project will be carried out in Cyprus in collaboration with the Medical and Public Health Services of the Ministry of Health, the University of Cyprus – Medical School and Centre of Excellence for Research and Innovation “KOIOS” – and the Veterinary Services of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment to improve and digitalize the infectious disease surveillance system within the framework of WHO’s One Health.
The project is called Cyprus Empowered Surveillance Mechanism (CY-ESM) and is co-funded by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) under the EU4Health programmes (call: EU4H-2023-DGA-MS3-IBA) with a total amount of EUR 3.5 million.
The CY-ESM project will identify needs, improve data collection mechanisms and develop digital systems to collect, analyze, and communicate epidemiological data. In addition, public health staff, healthcare professionals and the public will be trained in the importance and functioning of One Health-based infectious disease surveillance systems.
CY-ESM is expected to significantly improve the country’s ability to accurately map the spread of infectious diseases and agents, analyze data in real time, communicate quickly and efficiently with European health authorities and intervene immediately and in a coordinated manner to successfully manage epidemic outbreaks and future potential pandemic challenges in the face of the rapidly increasing consequences of climate change.