In a statement, the WHO European Office said "the NDC's mission is to strengthen WHO/Europe's preparedness across the 53 countries of the European Region and Central Asia, proactively identifying and mitigating potential risks before they become regional or global threats".

As a result of "lessons learnt" from COVID-19, "the new network will strengthen disease surveillance and outbreak response" across the region, for example by facilitating collaboration and knowledge-sharing between countries, public health agencies, academia and civil society.

Promoting common standards for a unified approach to disease management and building on existing networks brought together through WHO/Europe and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for technical collaboration and research are also among the objectives of the pan-European network.

WHO also aims to "foster the development of innovative approaches" and "support Network members and European Member States to develop new capacities and partnerships", as well as "improve cross-sectoral coordination between the animal, human and environmental sectors at national, regional and global levels, taking a One Health approach to disease control".

"The pandemic exposed weaknesses in our regional and global health architecture," said WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Henri Kluge, quoted in the statement.

He noted that a lack of science-based information led to "knee-jerk reactions" such as border closures, vaccine hoarding and inadequate sharing of health data.

"The next pandemic or global health emergency could be even more severe, so we must prepare for it now," he said.

Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of UKHSA, stressed that humanity faces a "significant, diverse and growing" range of health security threats.

"We are already facing major health challenges from infectious diseases such as mpox [monkeypox] and COVID-19, antimicrobial resistance, emerging zoonotic pathogens like Zika and dengue, foodborne diseases, and chemical, radiological and environmental hazards. We have to work together if we are to tackle these effectively," she said.

According to the statement, the NDC will be more inclusive than previous disease control networks, integrating countries from the European Union and beyond, as well as bringing together multilateral bodies from the EU, the United Nations and Central Asia.

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