Event highlights
Members refine outcomes and chart the Pan-European Network for Disease Control’s strategic direction
The recent conference of the Pan-European Network for Disease Control (NDC) convened more than 35 representatives from NDC members and regional partners for 2 days of collaborative strategy development. Participants drafted and agreed on the NDC’s mission statement and co-created end-to-end theory of change pathways for the 3 working groups – Collaborative Surveillance, Emergency Coordination and Access to Countermeasures – structurally linking them to a single, coherent strategic framework.
Through facilitated breakout discussions, participants mapped horizontal linkages, interdependencies and shared objectives across workstreams, identifying common enabling conditions for continued collaboration and long-term collective preparedness across the WHO European Region. These pathways now form the backbone of the 5-year strategy, ensuring that the direction is both member-owned and technically grounded.
The conference marked a key milestone, shifting the strategy from broad concepts to collaborative systems thinking. The insights gathered will inform the finalization of the strategy over the coming weeks, fully aligning it with WHO/Europe’s Preparedness 2.0 strategic priorities and member-defined needs.
The final strategy will steer the NDC into its next chapter of regional health security, strengthening the coherence of preparedness and institutional learning across the Region while complementing existing regional and subregional mechanisms.
Event notice
The NDC will bring together members and partners from across the WHO European Region for a 2-day online strategy conference on 24 and 26 November 2025. The NDC is a member-driven platform that fosters collaboration and peer learning among its members – national public health institutions, ministries of health and partners – to enhance regional health security. It supports countries in aligning practices, sharing knowledge and advancing collective preparedness under WHO/Europe’s Preparedness 2.0 framework.
From collaboration to strategy: enabling the next chapter of regional health security
The upcoming strategy conference represents a pivotal step in shaping the NDC’s first 5-year strategy (2026–2030), a framework that will define its mission, outcomes and priorities for strengthening collective preparedness and response capacities across the Region.
Hosted by the WHO European Centre for Preparedness for Humanitarian and Health Emergencies in Istanbul, Türkiye, the virtual conference will serve as a participatory forum where members, affiliates and partners will review the draft mission statement, discuss the theory of change guiding the strategy, and identify the enabling conditions required for effective collaboration. Through this process, participants will help shape a shared vision for how the NDC can translate peer learning, trust and collaboration into stronger systems for preparedness and response.
The strategy will consolidate the NDC’s role as a facilitative, member-driven platform, connecting national public health institutes, academia, civil society and international partners. Its 3 working groups – Collaborative Surveillance, Emergency Coordination, and Access to Countermeasures – will continue to act as engines for thematic collaboration and structured peer exchange, ensuring coherence across sectors and alignment with WHO/Europe’s Preparedness 2.0 and Health Emergency Preparedness, Response and Resilience (HEPR) frameworks.
By early 2026, the strategy will be finalized and presented to the NDC Steering Group for endorsement. It will serve as a living framework guiding member-led action plans and regional initiatives through 2030, ensuring that the NDC remains agile, inclusive and responsive to emerging health threats.
WHO/Europe’s work on advancing preparedness through networks
The NDC is an initiative to support the operationalization of Preparedness 2.0, WHO/Europe’s regional strategy and action plan to strengthen health emergency preparedness, response and resilience in the WHO European Region. By connecting institutions, facilitating learning and promoting coherence across borders, the NDC supports countries in anticipating, detecting and responding to health threats collectively, reinforcing regional solidarity and shared accountability for health security.