Kick-Off Conference

“Strengthening the capacity of the Serbia's health sector for communicable disease surveillance” –Belgrade, 6 September 2023 – Serbia is taking a significant step towards enhancing its health sector's ability to effectively detect, monitor, and respond to communicable diseases. The European Union (EU) has funded and enabled the groundbreaking project titled "Strengthening the Capacity of the Serbia's Health Sector for Communicable Disease Surveillance".

The project is being implemented through EU Twinning Instrument, which is intended for institutional cooperation between Public Administrations of EU Member States and of beneficiary or partner countries. Twinning aims to provide support for the transposition, implementation, and enforcement of the EU legislation, to share good practices developed within the EU with beneficiary public administrations of existing and future EU countries, based on learning by doing principles.

The project of the Ministry of Health carried out by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare in partnership with the Institute of Public Health of Serbia "Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut" aligns with the Serbian policies and strategies, particularly the Serbian Law on Health, Serbian Communicable Disease Act and Serbia’s National Strategy for the Development of Health (2018-2026). The afore mentioned documents emphasize the importance of the protection of public health and strengthening the communicable disease surveillance, and contain the necessary provisions and measures for aligning with EU legislation and standards.

The project aims at achieving alignment of legislative and strategic frameworks of Serbia's health sector with EU directives and membership requirements. In the meantime, the project paves the way for effective participation in the EU communicable disease surveillance network and strengthens the capacities for reducing cross-border health risks.

Through the project's implementation, Serbia's capacity to detect, monitor, and respond to communicable diseases will be significantly enhanced. Harmonizing laboratory diagnostics, developing a computerized epidemiological surveillance system and building the knowledge and skills of public health professionals will contribute to a robust public health infrastructure in accordance with the country’s needs and aspirations.

"Strengthening the Capacity of the Serbia's Health Sector for Communicable Disease Surveillance" project lasts from April 2023 to April 2025 and will be implemented through three components.         

• Further development of procedures and standards for coordinating the national epidemiological surveillance and response system in line with the EU regulatory framework.
• Development of a computerized epidemiological surveillance system for registration of cases, performing analysis and reporting communicable diseases.
• Enhancement of knowledge and skills of health professionals and associates in the field of epidemiological surveillance.

Along with this Twinning project implemented in the area of communicable disease surveillance in Serbia, there are other ongoing projects and reforms driven by the Serbian government and supported by the international community, including EU, which strive to improve the system of communicable disease surveillance and response for the sake of better and safer public health.