EDITORIAL

 

Dear readers,   

This is for now our last Newsletter during the implementation of EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS Joint Action activities. 

All these four years were full of new challenges and experience for all of us.

In March there was an opportunity after two years of COVID-19 pandemic to meet face-to-face again in the Final Conference and 2^th General Assembly meeting and discuss the Joint Action activities. It was great that not only Joint Action partners, but also different stakeholders agreed that we achieved results worthwhile and the activities of the project should continue. You can read more about work packages and deliverables in the Thematic and in the Events Sections.

Also, in the Events section you can find information about national training course on Preparedness and response to public health events at ports which took place in Klaipeda, Lithuania and webinar about Standard operating procedures for mosquito surveillance and control activities at PoE. These events show us again the importance of the cooperation, sharing of information, experience and good practices.

And last, but not least. It was great pleasure to work with all of you and I hope for collaboration and common activities in the future. So, at this time we do not say “Good bye”, but “See you soon!!!”.

 

Brigita Kairiene 

Advisor of Quality Management and Communication Department

National Public Health Centre under The Ministry of Health

 

 

News from the consortium  

 

 

 

Prof. Christos Hadjichristodoulou.     

EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS Joint Action Coordinator, Professor of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Medical Faculty, University of Thessaly, Greece

The EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS joint action ended 30 April 2022. During the 48 months of routine and emergency operation the consortium delivered many reports, advice documents and web-based tools. Some of the deliverables are listed below: 

• 16 COVID-19 advice documents for Points of Entry were developed aiming to assist public health authorities to develop short-term and long-term national and local preparedness plans that were continuously updated as new evidence emerged. All guidance documents (combined) downloaded from the EU HG web portal >50,000 times.
• EUPoENET a web-based network
• State of the Art report on ground-crossings

• SOPs for mosquito surveillance and control activities at Points of Entry, tools for contingency plans at ports and at airports and catalogues of best practices.

• 3 European level and 10 national level training courses were conducted training >130 Europeans and 20 non-European trainees at EU level courses and >300 at national courses.  In Action Reviews were conducted by three partners.
• 14 webinars were organised with >2000 registered participants and >1500 live and recorded views.
• Table top exercises: a general guidance for the organization of table-top/simulation exercises at PoE, a multi-sectorial national table-top exercise package for all PoE (focus on contact tracing) and local level table top exercises at airports and ports to test applicability and appropriateness of existing public health emergency contingency plans.
• An EU level table top exercice for ports
• Partners conducted 2 national level table top exercices and 3 exchange of visits.

You can read on the following sections further information about the key deliverables and also view all publicly available deliverables here: https://www.healthygateways.eu/Deliverables

 

 

 

The partnership met in March 2022 in Lavrio Greece for the Final Conference and the 2^nd General Assembly meeting. The members of the General Assembly in line with the European Commission’sexpectations from joint actions for sustainability has taken a number of decisions to confirm the roadmap for the way forward, specifically the short-term and long-term sustainability actions to be taken (by who, where, when and how).  The General Assembly meeting offered the consortium the opportunity to meet both in person and virtually to appraise the Joint Action outcomes and reflect on the work, adaptability and achievements of the partnership, especially the work achieved by the network of experts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through moderated discussions the partnership was able to consider and discuss why EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS activities should be continued after the Joint Action ends, and which specific activities must be sustained. At the conclusion of the meeting, session chairs highlighted that the decisions taken by the General Assembly members represented a realistic way forward to achieve ambitious goals, and sustainability of specific tasks must be prioritized. With several EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS platforms, databases, information systems and tools developed and available for use by EU MS, it should be a priority to promote these outputs to broaden their use.

The decisions taken and roadmap for sustainability of Joint Action activities (as of 1^st May 2022) that was agreed to by the General Assembly members are listed below:

 

All the partners showed dedication to keep this valuable network of experts alive and continue operations so as to support competent authorities at Points of Entries in Europe after the end of the joint action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THEMATIC SECTIONS

Key deliverables of Work Package 4 and 6 of the EU Healthy Gateways Joint Action

Work Package leaders: Institute of Occupational and Maritime Medicine (ZfAM), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)

Hamburg Port Health Center (HPHC)

Authors: Jan Heidrich, Kristina Militzer, Martin Dirksen-Fischer

 

Work package 4 (Sustainability)

Actions undertaken to foster take-up of the results by the

EU countries

Germany (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)/Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine (ZfAM) and Hamburg Port Health Center) was in lead of Work Package 4 (Sustainability) which was one of four horizontal Work Packages of the EU Healthy Gateways Joint Action. Its general objectives were to integrate EU Healthy Gateways Joint Action activities, outputs and results into national policies and to explore options for the continuity after the end of the Joint Action. All tasks were realized in close coordination with all other partners of the EU Healthy Gateways Joint Action and consultations with DG SANTE and HaDEA.

The following Milestones were achieved within Work Package 4

• Model National Sustainability Plan
• Country specific national comments on sustainability plan (including experiences from COVID-19)
• ^1st General Assembly meeting (13-14 June 2019 Hamburg, Germany)
• Multisectorial table top exercise at European level
• Report from the implementation of the multisectorial table top exercise at European level
• Final report on model national sustainability plan
• Drafts of documents with recommendations as part of the sustainability activities and if requested by European Commission DG SANTE
• Sustainability working group meeting reports
• Report from the site visit at Ministry of Health
• 2^nd General Assembly meeting (10-11 March 2022, hybrid format Lavrio, Greece and online)

One important output of Work Package 4 is the Model National Sustainability Plan. This template supports countries to define national priorities of the EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS Joint Action sustainability objectives and to plan their implementation and monitoring at different levels and transport sectors.

Sustainability of the EU Healthy Gateways Joint Action is a holistic approach: holistic in a vertical way (local, regional, national, international level); holistic in a horizontal way (institutions/stakeholders on same level), holistic in transport sectors (air, maritime, ground) and holistic in participating countries (primarily but not only European Member States). Networks established under EU Healthy Gateways Joint Action and its structures contributed significantly to sustainability and thus enhanced preparedness and action at Points of Entry. However, sustainability of the EU Healthy Gateways Joint Action is less an end product than a cyclical and interactive process that needs to be assured both short term (e.g. through direct service contract from European Commission or a new Joint Action) and long term (e.g. through Memorandum of Understanding among Ministers of European Union (EU) and non-EU countries, and EU legislation).

 

Work Package 6 (Air transport)

Actions for preparedness at airports and the air transport sector

Work Package was led by Sweden (Folkhalsomyndigheten (FOHM), The Public Health Agency of Sweden) and Germany (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)/Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine (ZfAM) and Hamburg Port Health Center).

Key deliverable of Work Package 6 was to strengthen core capacities at airports. This was among others to be achieved by establishing the air transport component of a network for communication and rapid notification in the event of cross-border health risks and by facilitating Joint Action countries in monitoring core capacities at Points of Entry related to air transport.

Milestones accomplished by Work Package 6 are the following

• Establishment of working group
• Identification of best practices
• SOPs for vector surveillance and control activities at airports
• Guidance on exit/entry screening at points of entry in the context of COVID-19
• Tool for contingency plan development and assessment for airports Version 1
• Report of the legal framework of the countries in regards to the contact tracing in the air sector in response to public health events.
• Technical content for training material
• Model MoU for airport local competent authorities agreement of cooperation for responding to public health events
• Pilot-testing for the European dPLF system (air)
• Considerations for implementing a common strategy for testing of travellers for SARSCoV-2 at international airports in EU MS
• Table top /simulation exercise at airports Version 1
• Collect feedback from the table top / simulation exercises at airports
• Contribute to the development of the table top /simulation exercise at national level especially for the parts that refer to airports

Work Package 6, as all other Work Packages of the EU Healthy Gateways Joint Action, adapted its activities to the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, Milestone 6.11 (Table top / simulation exercise at airports) aims to support stakeholders to design table top or simulation exercises that examine and improve the applicability of existing public health emergency contingency plans, protocols, procedures and capabilities for managing COVID-19 events in the air sector. For that purpose, three different COVID-19 scenarios in the air sector have been developed. Apart from this and other relevant COVID-19 guidance documents produced by EU Healthy Gateways Joint Action, several guidance documents from various international organisations focussing on COVID-19 related issues in the air sector can be easily identified by using the refined search machine of the Point of Entry Bibliography Tool (https://www.healthygateways.eu/Bibliography-Tool).

However, all guidance documents, generated knowledge and established networks by the EU Healthy Gateways Joint Action may not only be supportive for strengthening preparedness and action at airports and reducing cross-border health risks through air transportation for the current COVID-19 pandemic but can also contribute to managing future health threats.

 

Key deliverables of WP5: Ground Crossings

Actions for preparedness at ground crossings and the land transport sector

Work Package Leaders: National Public Health Centre under The Ministry of Health, Lithuania & The National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Poland

Authors: Brigita Kairiene, Janusz Janiec, Giedre Aleksiene

 In the context of Points of Entry, ground crossings are different from ports and airports. They are more dependent on local or national context and actual circumstances or conditions. Below we present the main deliverables which were achieved in the framework of WP5 “Ground crossings” which tried to address these differences and may be used for better preparedness and functioning during public health events.

“Cross Border Health Threats: State of the Art Report for Ground Crossings” including scoping literature review  on public health events related to ground crossings, survey results on preparedness and response to biological and chemical threats, identification of best practices implemented at ground crossings in Europe and beyond, transport connections between European Union and East and South-East Asia in aspect of vector introduction risk, list of PoE with external borders of EU – over 100 identified and legal grounds for responding to serious cross-border public health threats (land borders) in EU countries.

Model Memoranda of Understanding:

A. For personal data exchange for the purpose of contact tracing in the field of public health.

B. For coordination of response to public health events of mutual interest between EU and non-EU countries

The guidances dealing with COVID-19 management at ground crossings:

• Preliminary advice for preparedness and response to cases of COVID-19 at ground crossings (buses and bus stations) in the European Union (EU)/ European Economic Area (EEA) Member States (MS)
• Preliminary advice for preparedness and response to cases of COVID-19 at ground crossings (trains and rail stations) in the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA) Member States (MS)

Webinar “Events related to COVID-19 at ground crossings” which aim was to present and discuss about the guidelines for ground crossings developed by EU HEALTHY  GATEWAYS Joint Action, transmission of COVID-19 on ground transport, suggested solution to facilitate cross border exchange of pubic heath information, presentation about development of digital Personal Locator Form to facilitate contact tracing, experience from survey on ground crossings in EU. Also the experience of COVID-19 management at ground crossings were presented by stakeholders.

Web-based training of the trainers’ “Preparedness and response to public health events at ground-crossings” was organized to increase competence and capacity for managing public health events (biological and chemical) in ground transport including risk assessment, decision-making and crisis communication. The training course will address issues of decision making for implementing evidence based health measures proportionate to the health risks.

Workshop “Challenges and exchange of practices in relation to public health measures at ground crossings” between Lithuania and Poland stakeholders. The main aim of the workshop was to enable the exchange of experiences and discuss challenges in the field of public health, in particular issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of to land border crossings and from the perspective of both sides of the border. The workshop also made it possible for participants to better understand the procedures and ways of responding to events related to exposure to an infectious person during international journeys.

Catalogue of best practices on core capacities implementation at ground crossings which can be used by stakeholders operating at ground crossings.

 

 

Key deliverables of Work Package 7 - Maritime transport

Focused on strengthening core public health capacities at ports

Work Package Leaders: Laboratory of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Thessaly, Greece

European inspection programme for ships

EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS implements a programme for passenger ship inspections and audits in European countries in accordance with standards in the European Manual for Hygiene Standards and Communicable Disease Surveillance on Passenger Ships.

 

 

Aim of inspection activities:

Common EU level inspection schedule for passenger ships based on target factor (priority to ferries and inland navigation vessels, considering historical inspection results) composed annually by all participating authorities in EU ports 

Facilitate EU MS to implement best practice for coordinating and executing hygiene inspections on conveyances, in order to prevent cross-border disease spread and improve compliance with European legislation standards

 

EU Common Ship Sanitation Database

EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS operates the EU Common Ship Sanitation Database (previously EU SHIPSAN ACT Information System) comprised of the following components:

 

Training of the trainers’ course (maritime transport)

• European level 3-day face-to-face training course on public health preparedness and response at ports and on ships
• Training resources used in 8+ national level courses

Model Memorandum of Understanding

• Describes cooperation among competent authorities at ports (local level) that must be involved in response to public health events – to be applied by countries in their national / local context to foster collaboration between different authorities

Best practices implemented at ports

• Identified and compiled best practices implemented at their designated ports into the web-based, searchable catalogue of best practices for points of entry

For further information about accessing the catalogues: info@healthygateways.eu

 

Tool for development/assessment of contingency plans (ports)

A tool produced to:

• Suggest concrete steps to develop or assess current port public health emergency contingency plans
• Assist local port and national stakeholders where International Health Regulations (2005) or Decision No 1082/2013/EU on serious cross-border health threats is implemented

Technical tool consists of:

1. Template of Generic public health emergency contingency plan for designated ports
2. Cruise Restart Process Map (CRPM) – outlines path, process and procedures to be followed by port / local authorities for cruise ships to be able to safely visit the port
3. Explanatory notes on Cruise Restart Process Map
4. Template of Adapted COVID-19 specific public health port emergency contingency plan

 

Guidelines for intercountry communication and information flow in outbreak investigations on ships and public health event management

 

Guidelines outline stakeholder roles and    responsibilities involved in outbreak investigation on board ships

• Suggests information flow, standardised information sharing and coordination of response
• Describes existing platforms for information sharing
• Tested via EU level multi-sectorial tabletop exercise at ports

 

 

 

 

 

 

Key deliverables of WP8 – chemical threats

Actions for preparedness in relation to chemical threats at points of entryWork Package Leaders: National institute of Public Health, Slovenia & UK Health Security Agency

In WP8 (Chemical Threats), all deliverables and milestones in the period from May 2018 to April 2022 were completed. Both deliverables were submitted in April 2022: a Tool to assess chemical preparedness at ports, airports, ground crossings and Guidance for dealing with chemicals & chemical incidents at ports, airports, ground crossings.

The Tool to assess chemical preparedness at ports, airports, ground crossings provides a framework for consistent planning of hazard-specific competencies and can be used for auditing, training and exercising purposes at the point of entry and is intended for use by public health planners, safety managers and officials working at the point of entry/state jurisdictional level.

The Guidance for dealing with chemicals & chemical incidents at ports, airports, ground crossings complements existing arrangements in Members States and assists in preparedness and response to chemical incidents at ports, airports and ground crossings. As a reference document, it is aimed at public health professionals, health workers at points of entry and other relevant agencies who may be notified if a public health incident involving chemicals occurs.

Also, all the milestones have been reached. Two workshops on chemical preparedness conducted for chemical preparedness at points of entry and dealing with chemical incidents produced compendium of good practices and gaps for chemicals at points of entry – practices agreed on by personnel of competent authorities (country level or local level) dealing with chemical incidents at points of entry. First workshop identified gaps, opportunities and improved understanding of existing arrangements at points of entry in countries. Second workshop addressed chemical safety regarding chemical containers at ports and ground crossings, including transport of chemicals. In addition, a lot of training materials were developed and best practices for chemical threats were identified.

 

 

Work Package 9: Capacity Builduing –Training

Actions for capacity building including training at points of entry

Work Package leaders: RIVM, Netherlands

 

The PoE Risk Assessment Profile (PRAP) tool: a tool to gain insights into external risk factors at ports

As part of Work package 9 -Training, we developed a tool to support gaining insights into ‘external’ risk factors for infectious disease introduction and transmission at ports. We call them ‘external’ risk factors because these are factors the PoE has little control over. Examples of risk factors are the number of travellers, the type of conveyances or the connections with areas of particular risk.

We call this tool the PoE Risk Assessment Profile (PRAP) tool: a multi-disciplinary group-based method promoting discussion and reflection on the risk factors at the port. It is the first tool that provides insights into external risk factors for PoE, using a structured discussion within the PoE team. The name of the tool is no coincidence: the insights into the risks gathered with the PRAP tool (read as ‘prep’) can serve as important input for preparedness planning at PoE.

The tool is based on 7 external risk factors for ports, which have been identified from literature and weighted in a Multi-Criterion Decision Analysis (MCDA) by PoE experts in Europe (1). The tool consists of 3 three phases: Brainstorm, Self-assessment and Reflection.

Figure 1 shows an example of one of the Excel worksheets, in which one of the 7 risk factors is discussed and assessed by the PoE team. In the Reflection stage, the PRAP tool offers the opportunity to reflect on the risks identified and identify concrete actionable steps that can be undertaken. A user manual has been developed, describing the tool and providing instructions on how to organize and prepare for the PRAP session, which takes approximately 2-3 hours.

Pilot testing of the PRAP tool

Version 1 of the tool has been completed in January 2022. This version has been pilot-tested in the Port of Rotterdam at the end of January 2022 in collaboration with the Municipal Health Service Rotterdam and the Port Health Authority. The meeting was organized in a hybrid format (Figure 2,3). During the pilot session, participants used the tool, which entailed going through the tool worksheets, discussing the questions and filling in the quantitative assessment. Observers from RIVM were present physically and online to gather input and to provide support.

The input from the pilot test was used to develop version 2 of the tool, which will be delivered to the consortium by the end of April 2022.

 

References

1. Fransen, I.J.M. (2020) Infectious disease vulnerability assessment of points of entry.

Read Issue 17 for a detailed presentation of key deliverable under Work Package 9
https://www.healthygateways.eu/DesktopModules/EasyDNNNews/DocumentDownload.ashx?portalid=0&moduleid=427&articleid=34&documentid=20 

 

 

SHORT ARTICLE ABOUT WP2 DELIVERABLES

Actions undertaken to ensure that the results and deliverables of the action will be made available to the target groups

Work Package Leaders: National institute of Public Health, Slovenia

At WP2 (Dissemination), we completed all set tasks in the period from May 2018 to April 2022, both deliverables and milestones.

Two of three deliverables were finished in October 2018: A leaflet has been translated into three languages (Italian, Lithuanian and Spanish) and has in total >10.000 downloads. A web-site (https://www.healthygateways.eu/) was launched and it became the primary dissemination channel for EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS JA. Third deliverable (Layman version of the final report) will be finished at the end of April 2022.

Also, all the milestones have been reached: A stakeholder analysis incorporating methods of SWOT analysis was completed. Via bimonthly dissemination monitoring reports, partners reported that they have participated at more than 300 external dissemination events (conferences, workshops, meetings with key stakeholders, training events etc.) at international, European and national level. More than 30 scientific publications and almost 30 non-scientific non-peer reviewed publications at national and European level have been made, most of them were articles featuring the joint action activities. There was 18 e-newsletters that were disseminated to >500 stakeholders registered in the joint action’s mailing list. Content about EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS news and events was published on the joint action’s social media channels (Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, ResearchGate).

At the end of the project, a final dissemination report will be published, covering all the achievements mentioned here.

 

 

Events

Upcoming events

MARSEC EXERCISE-2022

Where: Alicante, Spain  When: May 19th. 2022

The Spanish Navy organizes annually a simulation exercise called MARSEC which includes the carrying out of different scenarios at different points of the Spanish coast related to the different responsibilities of the Spanish Maritime Administration. The purpose of the exercise is to provide a comprehensive approach to public health incidents in the maritime field, checking and assessing the capacity for immediate response at maritime points of entry under the IHR, and validate existing mechanisms to identify areas for improvement in order to strengthen the Maritime Community. It’s a Full-scale exercise – FSX that simulates “in situ” the global and coordinated response to the presence of ill people on board a ship, suspected of suffering an infectious disease that could pose a risk for public health in Spain. Throughout the exercise, participants will be able to review the procedures intended to be applied in this kind of events, as well as the roles and coordination among all the Organisms and Agencies that are involved.

Three EUHEALTHY GATEWAYS joint action partners from Lithuania, Ireland and the Netherlands will participate as observers in the simulation exercise.

 

PAST EVENTS OF THE JOINT ACTION

Webinar: Standard Operating Procedures for mosquito surveillance and control activities at Points of Entry

A webinar co-organised by EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS joint action and the European Scientific Association for Health and Hygiene in Maritime Transport - EU SHIPSAN ASSOCIATION was broadcasted live on Wednesday 23rd February 2022       introducing the SOP’s developed for mosquito surveillance and control activities at Points of Entry.

The webinar is available for playback viewing. Contact EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS (info@healthygateways.eu) to receive the link to the recorded webinar.

A total of 289 participants from 24 European countries and 26 non-EU countries registered to watch the live or recorded webinar out of which 93 watched the live webinar. A total of 12 presenters and 2 moderator participated in the webinar.

 

Topics covered during the webinar:

• Standard Operating Procedures for mosquito surveillance and control activities at Points of Entry
  • Outline of the SOPs document and legal background
  • Risk assessment at Point of Entry
  • Entomological surveillance and control at Points of Entry
• Country experiences on vector surveillance and control at PoE (Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Netherland, Taiwan
• Interventions by World Health Organisation and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

 

Presenters

• Barbara Mouchtouri (University of Thessaly, Greece)
• Leonidas Kourentis (University of Thessaly, Greece)
• Adolfo Ibáñez-Justicia (Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, Netherlands)
• Antonios Michaelakis (Benaki Phytopathological Institute, Greece)
• Kristina Militzer (Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine, Hamburg, Germany)
• Panos Milonas (Benaki Phytopathological Institute, Greece)
• Mauro Dionisio (Ministry of Health, Directorate General for Health Prevention, Italy)
• Brigita Kairiene (National Public Health Centre under The Ministry of Health, Lithuania)
• Arjan Stroo (Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, Netherlands)
• Kai-Di Yu (Taiwan Centers for Disease Control, Taiwan)
• Raman Velayudhan (World Health Organization)
• Olivier Briet (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control)

 

Final Conference and 2nd General Assembly Meeting of the EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS joint action

The EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS joint action contributed significantly to the management of the COVID-19 pandemic especially to the measures implemented in Europe at airports, ports and ground crossings as well as onboard conveyances (airplanes, ships, cruise ships, ferries, inland vessels, trains and buses).

The final conference and the 2^nd General Assembly meeting of the European joint action HEALTHY GATEWAYS (https://www.healthygateways.eu/) were held on board the cruise ship Celestyal Crystal docked at the port of Lavrio on the 10-11 March 2022.

More than 250 people from 32 countries participated in person or virtually together with presenters from EUMS, from 8 European institutions (DG SANTE, DG MOVE, HaDEA, ECDC, EASA, EMSA, ERA, Frontex) from WHO (WHO HQ, WHO EURO) and other  International Organisations, from US CDC, Taiwan CDC, EU SHARP Joint Action, from other universities and research centers, cruise line representatives and air companies as well as port authorities (CLIA, Celestyal, COLUMBIA Cruise Services, Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Lines, the Apollo Group, Viking Cruise, Royal Caribbean, MSC, MedCruise, Piraeus Port Authority, Heraklion Port Authority, IATA, Lufthansa, Boeing, UIC).

 

 

 

During the 2-day event, the results and impact of the EU joint action at global, European, national and local level together with the sustainability plan of the different activities and future actions were presented.

Participants and presenters confirmed the significant contribution and support the joint action provided during the pandemic (>15 advice documents, >40 consultations, webinars, research protocols, European Digital Passenger Locator form) as well as during EUMS routine operations (European Database for recording Ship Sanitation Certificates, annual European inspection programme on passenger ships, Memorandum of Understanding for the Points of Entry, training courses and table top exercises etc.). General Assembly members unanimously decided on the continuation of the network of experts on public health issues related to transport as well as of the tools developed by the joint action and nominated the University of Thessaly (joint action coordinator) to continue the administrative support for the activities after the end of the joint action.

The General Secretary of Public Health of the Ministry of Health, Eirini Agapidaki, announced the opening of the 2^nd General Assembly meeting of the European joint action.

 

The Minister of Tourism of Greece, Vasilis Kikilias, announced the opening of the Final Conference and noted the importance of the joint effort at European level and the EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS contribution in responding to the pandemic and restarting the tourism activities. Mr Kikilias expressed his appreciation for the contributions of the scientific community to the societies, travelers and tourists and his optimism for this year’s touristic season.

 

The Director of Public Health, Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety of the European Commission, John Ryan in his keynote speech presenting the actions of the European Union and of the Member States during the pandemic, characterised the EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS as a best practice example and commented on how important the support of Joint Action was during the pandemic stressing at the same time the need for ensuring sustainability of the Joint Action results.

 

The Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy, Ioannis Plakiotakis presented the closing address. In his speech, Mr Plakiotakis noted the support provided by the Joint Action to the development of national protocols and the restart of tourism and in particular the cruise industry with advice documents and training programs. In addition, he announced the establishment of the National Public Health Observatory in Means of Transport and Points of Entry and noted that the Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy is ready to start discussions with the relevant Ministries to provide administrative support to the Joint Action activities so as to ensure their continuation by the Member States of the European Union.

 

 

Discussed issues related to public health management at the ports

Brigita Kairiene¹, Barbara Mouchtouri², Martin Dirksen-Fischer³, Giedre Aleksiene¹

¹National Public Health Centre under the Ministry of Health, Lithuania

² University of Thessaly, Greece

³ Hamburg Port Health Center, Germany

 

On the 21th of April, 2022 National Public Health Centre under the Ministry of Health (Lithuania) in cooperation with University of Thessaly (Greece) in the framework of EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS Joint Action organized a national face to face training course on Preparedness and response to public health events at ports. A total 18 participants from different stakeholders - Ministry of Health, National Public Health Centre under the Ministry of Health, Klaipeda municipality administration, Klaipeda State Seaport Authority and shipping agencies - participated in the training course.

Representatives from the University of Thessaly (Greece), Hamburg Port Health Authority (Germany), Ministry of Health (Spain) and the Health Protection Agency (United Kingdom) shared their experiences with the participants.

The main topics which were discussed during the trainings were identification and management of public health threats (biological and chemical) on the ships and in the ports, communication and its importance and implementation of appropriate public health measures. Participants also shared their experience and were involved in the discussions related to biological and chemical event on the ship or in the port also assessing the risk of the event at national and / or national and / or international level, the decisions on appropriate public health measures and recommendations.

During the trainings active discussion about institution who should be responsible for evaluation of ill passenger’s health condition on the ship and evacuation from the ship took part.

Most of the participants agreed that this kind of training is a very good opportunity to them to strengthen their core capacities and share best practice on national and / or international level.

 

RECENT SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS PUBLICATIONS

 Updated EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS advice documents

 

• Guidelines for cruise ship operations in response to te COVID-19 pandemic (Version 4 - April 2022)

  https://www.healthygateways.eu/Portals/0/plcdocs/EUHG_Operational_guidelines_CoV_April2022.pdf?ver=2022-04-06-152525-527

  The revised version incorporates the following changes:

• Validity of vaccination certificates and recovery certificates
• Provision of information to the competent authorities about the vaccination status of
  passengers and crew on board ships
• Screening and diagnostic testing policy for crew and passengers
• Quarantine and isolation measures for vaccinated crew members and passengers
  Special measures in cruises with increased numbers of COVID-19 cases among passengers and crew
• Health and hygiene measures in food service areas

 

 

• Advice for cruise ship operators for preparedness and response to an outbreak of COVID-19

https://www.healthygateways.eu/Portals/0/plcdocs/EUHG_Outbreak_management_CoV_April2022.pdf?ver=2022-04-06-152810-997
The revised version incorporates the following changes:

• Definitions of contacts and cases
• Screening and diagnostic testing policy of crew and passengers
• Use of face masks
• Quarantine and isolation measures for crew and passenger
• Special measures in cruises with increased number of COVID-19 cases among passengers and crew