WP7 D7.3 Final Report Roadmap to implementation of integration infectious diseases surveillance | UNITED4Surveillance

This report presents results from Work Package (WP) 7 Sustainability in implementing the sustainability plan of the Joint Action UNITED4Surveillance (Grant Agreement Number 101102070) (https://united4surveillance.eu/project/). The goal of this WP is to ensure that project outcomes, activities, and benefits extend not only during the project duration, but also contribute to the long-term aim: strengthening integrated European health surveillance systems. The overarching objective is to strengthen communicable disease surveillance systems at the national level by improving the integration, interoperability, and digitalization of data sources. In this Joint Action we focused on outbreak detection, hospital surveillance, and One Health surveillance. The report provides a final overview of the planned national sustainability activities from 21 countries within the UNITED4Surveillance consortium, as well as the outcomes that can be sustained at the European level. All sustainability actions proposed in the sustainability plans were described based on core work package (WP2, WP3, and WP4) activities. Most countries that submitted their national sustainability plans have the intention to strengthen outbreak detection by utilizing tools developed during UNITED4Surveillance. This report also describes the development of the UNITED4Surveillance interactive roadmap, as well as Milestone 53 – Additional work done during project extension period (Annex 1). The main key findings from the report: The sustainability of the UNITED4Surveillance outcomes is closely linked to sustained financing, institutional integration, stakeholder engagement, and the monitoring of how implementation progresses. The UNITED4Surveillance produced a broad range of practical, technical, and capacity-building outcomes, including data standards, protocols, digital tools, training materials and knowledge-sharing activities. The sustainability activities could be ensured by combining national funding sources and / or the opportunities offered by European funding mechanisms(e.g. through the projects receiving grants under the call EU4H-2023-DGA-MS-IBA-01: Direct grants to Member States’ authorities: improving and strengthening national surveillance systems (Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on serious cross-border threats to health and repealing Decision No 1082/2013/EU) (CP-g-23-01). The integration of UNITED4Surveillance results into national and institutional frameworks is a key condition for long-term sustainability. Some of the countries are strengthening both horizontal and vertical integration through formal agreements, such as Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), and cross-sector partnerships. These efforts are particularly relevant for improving data sharing in laboratory-based reporting, outbreak detection, hospital surveillance, and One Health surveillance. Stakeholder engagement is another important factor supporting the uptake of the UNITED4Surveillance results. Member State activities, such as defining roles; organising regular meetings; and providing trainings, have strengthened cooperation between public health institutions, laboratories, hospitals, veterinary and other professional stakeholders. These activities support the practical use of developed outcomes and help maintain the networks created during the Joint Action. Monitoring and sustainability planning also play an important role. Some countries have already defined general country-level sustainability monitoring indicators to monitor progress in upgrading their infectious diseases surveillance systems, strengthening stakeholder engagement, and improving data quality, while others plan to develop such indicators through future projects. Most countries have established sustainability plans, including regular assessment of legislation, progress monitoring, and stakeholder involvement. However, sustaining the results remains dependent on addressing key challenges, including limited funding and human resources, GDPR-related legal issues, technical interoperability issues, and the need to maintain stakeholder engagement after the end of UNITED4Surveillance. The interactive UNITED4Surveillance Roadmap ensures that the UNITED4Surveillance output is accessible in a user-friendly and interactive way for the years to come. Overall, the long-term value of UNITED4Surveillance will depend on the extent to which its results are financed, maintained, integrated into national systems, and actively used by stakeholders. Continued collaboration at national and EU level will be essential to preserve the knowledge, tools and networks developed through the Joint Action and to strengthen infectious disease surveillance capacity across Europe.