Dear readers,
It is my pleasure to welcome you to this newsletter. The second half of the project is approaching and I am going to be the editor for the next three issues. A lot of things have already happened, among others we had a really successful first training event in Piraeus, Greece last month.
In this issue, the coordinator of the joint action informs us first about establishment of new synergies, among others with SHARP joint action and PANDEM project, and then about the extension of the consortium with 3 new collaborating partners. Moreover, he gives an overview of the latest activities of the joint action and plans for the future events.
In the thematic section Training our partners from RIVM - Centre for Communicable Diseases in Netherlands explain more about the process of development of trainings: a training needs assessment, establishment of an expert working group, etc.
In the events section do not miss out the very interesting information about Webinar series on preparedness at points of entry and about the Training of the trainers’ face-to-face training course on Preparedness and response to public health events at ports, which happened in March in Piraeus, Greece. Moreover, the Institute of Public Health of Serbia visited in January the National Institute of Public Health in Slovenia and also Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport. In June the 1st General Assembly meeting will be organized in Hamburg and in September training of the trainers’ course on Preparedness and response to public health events at airports will be held in Serbia.
In this issue, we are pleased to introduce you our team from NIJZ in Slovenia and the international Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport.
Last but not least we prepared a short quiz.
At the end, all the best to all of you and see you soon in Hamburg!
Peter Otorepec
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
One year has passed since the EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS joint action kick-started its implementation in May 2018. During this year, the consortium laid the foundation for all the work to be completed within the framework of the joint action and has built the basis for synergies and enhanced collaboration between the different stakeholders from the air, ground-crossings and maritime sectors at national, European and International level. In particular the coordination of the joint action is working closely with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) aiming to collaborate in the European level training courses and in the development and execution of table-top/simulation exercises planned by the joint action. The cooperation established by the previous projects and joint action with the World Health Organisation/HQ, WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/EURO) and WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (WHO/EMRO) is continuing. WHO EURO and EMRO funded participation of non-EU countries to the EU-level training of the trainers’ courses on Preparedness and Response to public health events at ports organised from 12th to 14th March 2019 in Piraeus, Greece (see further information in the Events Section) and the interest was expressed to collaborate on the development of the Joint Action guidance, SOPs and materials for exercises. Synergies have also been established with SHARP joint action and PANDEM project.
The consortium is being expanded. We are pleased to announce 3 new collaborating partners have joint the EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS joint action: the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate-Poland, the University of West Attica-Greece and State Emergency Medical Service-Latvia. One more institution, the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, has expressed interest to participate and is currently in the process of joining the consortium.
Moreover, the establishment of the network of professionals for ports, airports and ground crossings named EU POENET is continuing. The network is hosted in the private area of the HEALTHY GATEWAYS web-portal. This web-based network will include specific discussion forums and will be used by professionals for knowledge exchange and for facilitating competent authorities with information sharing that can be used to the risk assessment of public health events.
Finally, two major events are being planned for the next months: the 1st General Assembly meeting in June 2019 and the training of the trainers on Preparedness and Response to public health events at airports in September 2019.
The 1st General Assembly meeting is being organised on the 13th-14th June 2019 in Hamburg, Germany by the University of Thessaly-Greece (Leader of Work Package 1: Coordination) in collaboration with the Institute of Occupational and Maritime Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) in Germany (Leader of Work Package 4:Sustainability). During the first day of this meeting the work progress will be presented by the work package leaders followed by two panel discussions: (i) with industry and (ii) with EU and international stakeholders on collaboration in joint action activities. The first day will be concluded with an EU Member States session where beneficiaries and collaborating stakeholders will present best practices and their plans of sustainability and dissemination activities. The second day participants will work in 3 working groups for ground-crossing, air transport and maritime transport and the day will be concluded with the approval of decisions and identification of next steps.
The training of the trainers’ course on Preparedness and Response to public health events at airports will be held in September 2019 in Serbia. The training is co-organised by the Institute of Occupational and Maritime Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)-Germany, the Public Health Agency of Sweden, the University of Thessaly-Greece, RIVM-Netherlands and the Institute of Public Health of Republic of Serbia "Dr Milan Jovanović Batut". The purpose of the course is to increase competence and capacity for managing public health events at airports. After completing the course, participants will act as trainers in face-to-face national training courses to be organised in their country. Training will comprise a blended format with both e-learning and face-to face components. Methods for the face-to-face training will include presentations and learning activities. Details about this event will be published in the next issue of the Newsletter.
Check out the events section of this newsletter for further information regarding the past and upcoming EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS events!
Download the joint action leaflet from here
Visit the web portal by clicking on the link below: www.healthygateways.eu
Check out the section on European Inspection Program for ships and find out the latest information related to inspections conducted on board passenger ships sailing in European waters.
Follow us on Social Media of the joint action
Training
Preliminary results: Training needs of public health staff at points of entry
Doret de Rooij, MD., RIVM - Centre for Communicable Diseases, the Netherlands
To develop trainings that fit the needs of the professionals involved in event management at ports, airports and ground-crossings, we performed a training needs assessment. An online questionnaire was sent to all European designated ports, airports and ground-crossings. The topics of the questionnaire were the core-capacities as stated in the revised International Health Regulations of 2005. These topics include, for example: the assessment and disinfection of cargo and luggage; vector control; or in case of an event, the assessment of and care for ill travellers. Participants of the questionnaire could rate to what extent they thought these topics were important in their daily job, and to what extent they perceived a training need. Participants also delivered information about former trainings they had received in the last three years. And they could share any specific preferences regarding training methods, such as e.g. presentations, case-studies or simulations.
The preliminary results of the needs assessment questionnaire show high training needs regarding triage of travellers, dealing with ill travellers, and the use of protective equipment such as gloves and masks. The results of this questionnaire will be used to shape the train-of-trainers for event managers at ports, airports and ground-crossings, which are planned in 2019 and 2020.
Operational tool on rapid risk assessment methodology - ECDC 2019
Rapid risk assessments (RRA) are undertaken in the initial stages of an event or incident of potential public health concern while more comprehensive risk assessments, which often include the conduct of full systematic reviews, are produced at a later stage of an event, usually when more time and information are available.
https://ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/operational-tool-rapid-risk-assessment-methodology-ecdc-2019
Events
Webinar Series on Preparedness at Points of Entry
A webinar titled “Issues on disinfection and disinsection on aircrafts” was broadcasted live on Tuesday, 19th of March 2019 as part of the EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS joint action webinar series on Preparedness at Points of Entry.
Presenters:
- Sabine Hölterhoff. Manager on Occupational Safety & Health on behalf of Lufthansa Technik with responsibility on the Fleet services for the line maintenance on Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo aircrafts.
- Joachim Klaus. Occupational Safety Engineer Flight Operations on behalf of the Lufthansa Group and expert on barrier concepts for all concerns of industrial hygiene on behalf of the airline business.
A total of 205 participants from 24 EUMS and from 27 non-EU countries registered to watch the live or recorded webinar out of which 85 watched the live webinar.
The webinar was recorded and is available for play back viewing. Contact us if you are interested to receive access to the recorded webinar.
Training of the trainers’ face-to-face training course on Preparedness and Response to public health events at ports
When: 12-14 March 2019 Where: Piraeus, Greece
The training of the trainers’ course titled “Preparedness and response to public health events at ports” was organised from the 12th to the 14th March 2019 on board the Celestyal Olympia cruise ship docked at the port of Piraeus, Greece by the University of Thessaly, Laboratory of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Greece with support from the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIMV), Netherlands.
The purpose of the training of the trainers’ programme is to increase competence and capacity for managing public health events at ports and on ships including risk assessment, decision-making and crisis communication. The training course addressed issues of decision making for implementing evidence based health measures proportionate to the health risks. After completing this course, participants will act as trainers to the face-to-face training course at national level to be organised at their country.
A total of 62 persons attended the training course. In particular:
- 44 trainees [35 participants from 19 European countries (Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden) and 9 participants from 6 non-EU countries (Azerbaijan, Albania, Georgia, Israel, Tunisia, Turkey).
- 15 persons as presenters, facilitators and observers
- 3 persons providing administrative support from the University of Thessaly, Greece
The training course consisted of two components:
(a) Essential online pre-course e-learning sessions
(b) The 3-day face-to-face training course that started at 09:00 on 12th of March 2019 and finished at 14:00 on 14th of March 2019.
Methods of face-to-face training included presentations, case studies and scenarios. Moreover, web-based polling system was used through PowerPoint integration in order to interactively engage the participants in the learning process. The results of the polls where produced via graphs in real time. The participants were able to access the polls via their mobile devices or laptops.
The first day of the training was dedicated to Preparedness planning at ports and Event detection, verification risk assessment and decision making.
The second day of the training was dedicated to Management of public health event – what we have learned, Information sharing and data management and to the Monitoring and evaluation of event response.
The third day was dedicated to the Management of public health event due to chemical agents and how to organise a training course at national level.
Site Visit to Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport and National Institute of Public Health in Slovenia
When: 22.01.2019-24.01.2019 Where: Ljubljana, Slovenia
A visit was conducted by the Institute of Public Health of Serbia, Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut in collaboration with the National Institute of Public Health in Slovenia with the purpose to visit the Ljubljana Airport which is designated airport and to see organization and important issues regarding designation.
Participants: Dragana Dimitrijevic, Lidija Stankovic / Institute of Public Health of Serbia; Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut, Milos Ivanis / VINCI Airports SERBIA d.o.o. - Nikola Tesla Airport; Nina Pirnat, Maja Socan, Nuška Čakš Jager, Peter Otorepec, Pavel Polak, Eva Leban, Nadja Šinkovec, Petra Klepac, Irena Grmek Košnik / National Institute of Public Health in Slovenia; Dušan Sofrić, Boris Možek / Fraport Slovenia d.o.o. – Brnik-Aerodrom, Slovenia.
On the first day of the visit (January 22, 2019) a site visit was conducted at the Ljubljana Airport. This day was dedicated to getting acquainted with representatives and professionals at the Airport, getting acquainted with the healthcare workers at the Airport and reviewing contingency plans. After the material was shown, the facility for emergency situations at the Airport was visited. On the second day of the visit (January 23, 2019), which began with the welcome of NIJZ Director Dr. Nina Pirnat and other representatives of the National Institute of Public Health of Slovenia, a formal meeting was held where the work of the Center for Communicable Diseases was presented. Moreover, the guidelines for Preparedness and Response at PoE in case of infectious disease, which may pose a high risk for Public Health, were presented. The meeting continued with a presentation on a simulation exercise held at the Ljubljana Airport followed by a demonstration of a cruiser at Port of Porta where the goals and outcomes of the exercise that were held in June 2018 related to the exercise of communication, data exchange and interdisciplinary coordination were presented. The day concluded with a presentation related to the police, army and customs - Preparedness and Response to communicable disease threats in Slovenia.
The second and third day (January 23 and January 24, 2019) of the visit to the NIJZ, began with the welcome of Dr. Peter Otorepec and his team of experts. In addition to official lectures and presentations, the goals and achievements of the JOINT ACTION EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS were discussed.
Serbia does not have designated airport, or any others points of entry. This site visit was really useful and significant, and underlined multisectoral approach and cross sector collaboration and cooperation. Setting up of multisectoral working group as the main core for coordination and performing activities related to designation of airport is priority.
1st General Assembly meeting, 13-14 June 2019, Hamburg, Germany
When: 13-14 June 2019 Where: Hamburg, Germany
The 1st General Assembly/collaborative group meeting for EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS joint action will take place on 13-14 June 2019 in Hamburg, Germany.
The General Assembly is the decision-making body of the Joint Action. The General Assembly consists of associated partners, collaborating stakeholders and work package leaders, as well as industry representatives who will be invited ad hoc to attend as observers specific sessions in the meeting, without voting rights.
The objectives of the 1st General Assembly meeting are:
- to plan (long-term) and monitor the Joint Action activities,
- to discuss recommendations derived from the sustainability working group,
- to decide about dissemination and sustainability of the Joint Action deliverables,
- to make strategic decisions for the long-term planning and sustainability issues of the Joint Action.
Training methods include presentation, panel discussions and working groups.
The EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS 1st General Assembly meeting will run in parallel to the 15th International Symposium on Maritime Health at HafenCity University. http://ismh15.com/en/information/
Simulation Exercise at Umeå Airport, Sweden
When: 9 January 2019 Where: Sweden
On January 9, 2019, Work Package 6 Air Transport (via co-leader John Angrén and colleague Linda Trönnberg) participated as observers at Umeå Airport’s (Sweden) simulation exercise focusing on infectious disease importation.
The purpose of the exercise was to familiarize involved actors on their role in a situation of infectious disease importation to the designated airport, Umeå Airport. An additional objective was to facilitate a forum to identify and discuss challenges between involved actors. The following representatives were involved in the simulation exercise:
- Communicable Disease Unit/County Medical Officer, Region Västerbotten
- Officer(s) on Duty (also representing ambulance services), Region Västerbotten
- County Animal Health Officer, County Administrative Board of Västerbotten
- Officer on Duty, County Administrative Board of Västerbotten
- Preparedness and crisis coordinator, Umeå Municipality
- Emergency services of Umeå Municipality
- Environmental Health Unit, Umeå Municipality
- Kvarken Ports, Umeå
- Swedavia, Umeå Airport
- Inspector(s), Swedish Police
- Public Health Agency of Sweden/Work Package 6 Air Transport (observer)
Seventh Meeting of the Collaborative Arrangement for the Prevention and Management of Public Health Events in Civil Aviation (CAPSCA-EUR/07)
When: 10-12 April 2019 Where: Helsinki, Finland
The meeting was organized in consultation with WHO Europe. Participants from public health authorities, as well as civil aviation authorities, airports, air navigation service providers and aircraft operators are welcome at CAPSCA meetings.
A representative of the joint action, Dr Jan Heidrich (Co-leader of Work Package 6 – Air transport), presented the HEALTHY GATEWAYS joint action activities.
15th International Symposium on Maritime Health (ISHM15)
When: 12-15 June 2019 Where: Hamburg, Germany
ISMH15 will be hold in cooperation with the Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine (ZfAM), the oldest civil research institution in maritime medicine in Germany, and the HafenCity University.
For further information visit the conference website here https://ismh15.com/en/
Simulation Exercise in Spain
When: 7th May 2019 Where: Algeciras, Spain
A simulation exercise is organised in the port of Algeciras, Spain. Representatives from the Healthy Gateways joint action will participate as observers in the Simulation Exercise. A summary of the event will be presented in the future issue of the newsletter.
National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ), Slovenia
The National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) is the central Slovenian institution for public health practice, research, and education. Its academic staff works on various tasks covering the areas of epidemiology of communicable and non-communicable diseases, health promotion, health protection, health system research, and national coordination of preventive programmes in primary health care. It also functions as the central statistical authority in health. Although public health practice is not in the exclusive domain of a single type of organisation or profession, in Slovenia, as in many other countries, the majority of important public health functions and services are provided by NIJZ. The main function of NIJZ is to provide research in the field of health, and to protect and increase the population health level by raising the awareness of the population and carrying out other preventive measures. NIJZ's main activities are funded by the Ministry of Health and include national health statistics and research in the field of public health, including health care systems; activities to identify health threats and design measures for their control; designing and providing health promotion programmes and preparing a scientific background for health friendly policies, programmes, and measures for disease prevention. NIJZ is a public institute. NIJZ is the national focal point for IHR and for EWRS, it is involved in implementation of IHR at the airports/ ports/ ground crossings, it gives professional support to all inspection activities, prepares guidance documents for inspections etc.
In the project Joint Action Healthy Gateways following team of experts from NIJZ is involved: dr. Nina Pirnat (director of NIJZ, member of previous projects related to safety of ship passengers - SHIPSAN projects, she strongly supports all activities related to this topic), dr. Peter Otorepec (the leader of the project at NIJZ), dr. Irena Grmek Košnik (responsible for airports on the national level), dr. Boris Kopilović (responsible for ports on the national level), and dr. Bonja Miljavec (responsible for ground crossings on the national level). The NIJZ is within the Joint Action Healthy Gateways responsible for dissemination activities and together with UK for activities about chemical safety. The main aim of dissemination activities is to reach as many stakeholders as possible and get them familiar with the project and its results (various methods of communication are used such as social media, newsletters, events etc.). The main aim of chemical safety is to assure more efficient response in case of chemical incident at airports, ports and ground crossings. To reach these objective comprehensive guidelines document will be prepared for tackling chemical incidents.
By National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia
What links to: Femme Fatale, Paul Erlich, Franz Schubert and The Great Pretender?
The Answer:........................................................
Why? ..................................................................
Please send your answers to info@healthygateways.eu
LJUBLJANA AIRPORT, SLOVENIA
National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia
The international airport Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport is the main international airport in the Republic of Slovenia, it is located about 27 km from the main and largest Slovenian city, Ljubljana. The airport is well located in relation to Central Europe, between the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea. The airport has good road connections with the city and the regions. Due to the central position, it plays an important role both in the transport system of the country and in the tourist industry.
In 2017 more than 1.6 million passengers travelled through the airport, and at the same time they supplied more than 24,300 tonnes of cargo. The airport is used by passenger airlines and cargo carriers such as UPS and DHL. The airport is also the hub of the national carrier Adria Airways. It operates at the present location since December 1963. Since Slovenia's independence, it is exclusively an international airport. It is ranked among smaller regional airports. The airport measures approx. 530 hectares, of which 320 ha are inside and 200 ha outside the fence of the airport. The airport has one runway.
Since 2014, the Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport has been owned by the German company Fraport AG and is managed by Fraport Slovenija d.o.o. The history of the Ljubljana Airport was marked by constant development and progress, and improvement of the services and safety of air transport. The number of passengers and the quantity of cargo handled at the Ljubljana Airport is constantly increasing. Positive trends in transport are reflected in the good performance of the company.
Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport is subject to the implementation of the International Health Regulations, which is the basic document for the prevention of all threats to public health including infectious diseases on an international scale and the members were obliged to implement it by June 15, 2012. Following the example of other countries, the Slovenian implementation was the joint work of the Airport, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Transport, associations in the field of aviation, public health and clinical medicine (Infection Clinic).
World events in relation to Ebola in 2014 have accelerated the process of introducing the International Health Regulations at Ljubljana Airport. Because of the threat of Ebola entering the airport, a close association of NIJZ experts, an infectious clinic, and an airport management was developed, which wanted to best protect their employees when they were in contact with the sick person. The contribution of the cooperation was the preparation of an algorithm as well as education, which NIJZ experts carried out for employees at the airport.
In 2015, we conducted an exercise at the airport, which proved that we are managing the introduction of infectious diseases through the airport, but there are still many possibilities for improvement.
