EU – HIP

Official website: https://www.rivm.nl/en/international-projects/eu-hip

Project Description:

For intelligence gathering and threat assessment, HERA needs support from the Member States and associated countries, and a comprehensive state-of-the-art IT system generating actionable insights for decision-making is crucial. The upcoming HERA IT platform for intelligence gathering will only be operational if Member States have strong national IT systems that are interoperable with HERA’s IT system and other relevant systems. EU-HIP supports participating countries to enhance and improve national IT systems in an efficient and coordinated manner, with the objective to obtain the needed interoperability with HERA’s IT platform. This will entail developing new IT systems and strengthening as well as aligning existing IT systems for the assessment of health threats and for intelligence gathering in the area of medical countermeasures at national level. Moreover, there is focus on promoting data comparability, and streamlining reporting to different systems. EU-HIP will facilitate integration of national IT systems with the HERA IT platform currently under development, and complement existing systems for early warning and response, epidemic intelligence, public health surveillance and medical countermeasures.

Phases of the project and their implementation:

The work will be conducted in 5 work packages (WP).

WP 1 – manages the project and is responsible for its progress and for compliance with legislation, rules and guidelines at work. Coordinates the collection of findings and reports and ensures their timely submission. Also takes care of the organization of project meetings. Above all, it is always in close cooperation with all other working groups.

WP 2 – is responsible for communication and effective dissemination of project results.

WP 3 – is responsible for project evaluation. It allows all important monitoring issues to be addressed during the life of the project.

WP 4 – deals with the multifaceted theme of sustainability. A key prerequisite is the availability of details on the specifications and operational procedures of the HERA platform to the EU-HIP partners at the start of the project and a well-functioning regular communication mechanism established in cooperation with the project team. Mapping and analysis of national/regional and EU structures (technologies, infrastructures, processes…) as well as stakeholder analysis.

WP 5 – Analyzing the technical needs of the participating country and providing analysis for concrete improvements. Improve digital epidemiological surveillance infrastructure for early detection and assessment of health threats and events and related medical countermeasures at the national level. Strengthening includes the development of new systems and the upgrading, addition and expansion of existing IT systems. Each country will draw up a report on the progress achieved during the EU-HIP, and these reports will be compiled into a single output.

Added Value

Slovenia was invited due to the successful implementation of eHealth solutions in recent years and the experience gained (also during the period of the Covid-19 epidemic). NIJZ will participate in the definition of process, semantic and technical aspects and the creation of IT infrastructure and applications for epidemiological monitoring (without managing work packages and tasks). With the project, Slovenia is participating in the preparation of uniform EU guidelines for the collection, monitoring and reporting of data on infectious diseases, and is expected to acquire funds for the unification and digitization of infectious disease reporting processes. Otherwise, the costs of unification and digitization would have to be covered from the national budget and subsequently adapted to the adopted EU guidelines. Digitization of reporting of infectious diseases is necessary for Slovenia and represents one of the grey areas in the current digitization processes, which is also criticized by the international evaluations of ZIS.

Expected Results and Material:

• Written products within DS4 and DS5,
• An information solution for electronic reporting of infectious diseases, which is integrated into the eZdravje system and includes the upgrade of the Central Register of Patient Data (CRPP), local health information systems and the system for epidemiological monitoring within the Center for Infectious Diseases of the NIJZ.

Project Duration: 1st of January 2023 – 30th of June 2025.

Supporting Organisation: Statens Serum Insitute (SSI)

Project partners: STATENS SERUM INSTITUT (SSI) – Denmark, SCIENSANO (Sciensano) – Belgium, CROATIAN INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH (CIPH) – Croatia, TERVEYDEN JA HYVINVOINNIN LAITOS (THL) – Finland, MINISTERE DES AFFAIRES SOCIALES ET DE LA SANTE (MoH FR) – France, BUNDESMINISTERIUM FUER GESUNDHEIT (BMG) – Germany, LANDLAEKNIS EMBAETTID (LANDL) – Iceland, MINISTERO DELLA SALUTE (MINSAL) – Italy, SVEIKATOS APSAUGOS MINISTERIJOS EXTREMALIU SVEIKATAI SITUACIJU CENTRAS (HESC) – Lithuania, RIJKSINSTITUUT VOOR VOLKSGEZONDHEID EN MILIEU (RIVM) – Netherlands, FOLKEHELSEINSTITUTTET (NIPH) – Norway, SPMS – SERVICOS PARTILHADOS DO MINISTERIO DA SAUDE EPE (SPMS) – Portugal, INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE SANATATE PUBLICA (INSP) – Romania, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH (NIJZ) – Slovenia, FOLKHALSOMYNDIGHETEN (FOHM) – Sweden.

Funding: The project is co-financed with EU funds through the EU4Health program within the framework of the Cooperation Agreement, no. 101102774.

Disclaimer:

Funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the European Union or the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). Neither the European Union nor the body that co-finances the campaign can be held responsible for them.