NEWS
IN BRIEF

European centre for disease control

European Union governments are soon to give their formal approval for a European centre for disease prevention and control. The initiative was given the go-ahead by the European parliament on 10 February.

The centre, which aims to be operating by early 2005, will be based in Sweden and will comprise a core staff of some 30 to 40 officials. It will be managed by representatives from national governments and European Union institutions with an initial three-year budget of US$ 61 million.

The centre will become responsible for the management of the European communicable disease network and will be closely involved in the work of the EU health security task force which plans against bio-terrorist attacks.

One of its immediate tasks will be to establish a clear working relationship with WHO. The case for a European centre for disease control was argued by Michel Tibayrenc in the Bulletin (2001;79:1094).

This month sees the introduction of an additional News section. The objective of In brief is to provide readers with short summaries of developments, events or debates in the field of public health that do not merit in-depth reporting but are nevertheless important. We hope that this will help make the News a more comprehensive service for Bulletin readers.