Infokiri

To: National Focal Points (NFPs) for Antimicrobial Resistance, NFPs for Antimicrobial Consumption and NFPs for Healthcare-associated Infections

CC: National coordinators (Coordinating Competent Bodies)

Updates from the ECDC ARHAI Section
EARS-Net, ESAC-Net, HAI-Net, EURGen-Net

June 2024

Introduction

Dear colleagues,

We hope this email finds you well. This e-mail is to provide you with the latest information about activities, events and resources relevant for the ARHAI networks (EARS-Net, ESAC-Net, HAI-Net, EURGen-Net) that may be of interest to you. Please do not hesitate to disseminate this information further to colleagues in your countries.

Updates from ECDC

• After 7 years as Director of the ECDC, Dr Andrea Ammon’s mandate ended on 15 June 2024.
On 17 June, Dr Pamela Rendi-Wagner took up her post as Director of ECDC.
Please see here for more information.

• On 6 May, ECDC published:

• the point prevalence survey of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use in European acute care hospitals 2022-2023 report;

• Information materials (infographics, country sheets, press release) to raise awareness about healthcare-associated infections and importance of hand hygiene.
These materials can be found here.

• ECDC also published:

• the Clostridioides difficile infections Annual Epidemiological Report for 2018-2020.

• the survey protocol for whole genome sequencing of Clostridioides difficile isolates from tertiary acute care hospitals, EU/EEA, 2022-2023.

• Planning for European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD) 2024 is ongoing. This year, the focus of EAAD will be antimicrobial resistance and infection prevention and control (IPC) indicators in European hospitals. ECDC will provide the regular media toolkit with updated key messages and materials around the third week of October and release the latest data on AMR and antimicrobial consumption during a press conference on 18 November. ECDC will continue collaborating with social media ambassadors across EU/EEA countries and organise an online event also on 18 November.

ECDC will also develop new patient stories this year. If you have any patient story that you would like to highlight from your countries, please contact Andrea Nilsson at [email protected].

• The fourth joint inter-agency report on integrated analysis of antimicrobial consumption (AMC) and the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacteria from humans and food-producing animals (JIACRA) was published on 21 February 2024 and can be accessed here.

• This year, the European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology (ESCAIDE) will be held in Stockholm and online on 20 – 22 November 2024. Attending ESCAIDE 2024 will be free of charge for all participants, whether they attend in-person (in Stockholm) or online. For more information about important dates, please visit the ESCAIDE website.

Updates on behalf of ECDC stakeholders

• United Nations Foundation is inviting to join the AMR Communications Coordination Hub (AMR-CC Hub), a strategic communications coordination mechanism convened by the UN Foundation and funded by Wellcome. The Hub is a time-bound effort to maximize communications activities around the High-Level Meeting (HLM) on AMR at UNGA 2024, and aims to support the work of current initiatives, including the Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform.

In the months leading up to the AMR-HLM, they will share regular updates, resources, and engagement opportunities through the Hub to coordinate and maximize communications and messaging efforts. To start, they are sharing some key resources below. 

• AMR Communications and Advocacy Efforts:

• Calls to Action here: key asks and calls to action published in recent months, which outline priorities from the AMR expert community ahead of the AMR-HLM.

• AMR Events: 

• Submit your AMR related events here: AMR-related events, virtual meetings, and engagement opportunities from now through September will be gathered and shared.

• New York Process:

• Zero Draft Political Declaration here: The Zero Draft was published on May 20 and is being negotiated by Member States throughout the summer.

• Apply now for special accreditation to attend the AMR-HLM here: For organizations that do not hold ECOSOC status with the United Nations, this is the first step to register to attend the AMR-HLM in September. Deadline to register is 28 June 2024.

The AMR-CC Hub works best with email addresses linked to a Google account. If you are joining from a Google-associated email, please click this link then click Ask to Join Group. If you need help associating your existing email with a Google account, please follow the instructions here. 

If you have questions or need more information, please contact [email protected]. 

Data calls 

• EARS-Net - the data call is ongoing. The deadline to report 2023 EARS-Net data is Monday 1 July 2024. All data must be reported and approved in EpiPulse by this date. Validation of submitted data will be performed during July and until 15 August. On Friday 16 August 2024 the database will be frozen for analysis. All data corrections must be completed before this date, and only data available in EpiPulse at this date will be included in the ECDC analyses. 

• ESAC-Net - the data call is ongoing. The deadline to report 2023 ESAC-Net data to TESSy is Monday 1 July 24. Please email [email protected] in case of any comments or any concerns for meeting this deadline.

• HAI-Net:

• Clostridioides difficile infections (HAI-Net CDI): collection of 2022 data will remain opened until 30 November 2024; 

• Surgical site infections (HAI-Net SSI): collection of 2022 data will remain opened
  until 30 November 2024;

• Healthcare-associated infections in intensive care units (HAI-Net ICU): collection of 2022 data will remain opened until 30 November 2024.

Upcoming meetings

• 11-12 September 2024: First annual meeting on eHealth-based surveillance.

• 25-26 September 2024 (tbc): HAI-Net DNCC virtual meeting.

• 25-26 September 2024: EURGen-Net network virtual meeting.

• 5–15 November 2024: Online training course “Control of multidrug-resistant micro-organisms in healthcare settings”. The course will be delivered online over four half days on 5, 8, 12, and 15 November.

• 18 November 2024: European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD),
in partnership with World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW, 18-24 November 2023).

• EAAD press conference. Release of 2023 data on AMR and antimicrobial consumption.

• EAAD online event.

• 11-12 December 2024: ESAC-Net network meeting, Stockholm.

Best regards,

The ECDC Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare-Associated Infections (ARHAI) Section