Europe have experienced several terror attacks in recent years. Health preparedness and cross sectoral response also involves planning for terror attacks including biological or chemical agents. To be better prepared to handle these types of terror attacks EU have set up a call, as part of the Third Health Programme 2014-2020, to develop a proposal for Joint Action to Strengthen Health Preparedness and Response to Biological and Chemical Terror Attacks. This acronym for the Joint Action is JA BICTRA.

The JA BICTRA is under development, and the main objectives are to (1) to address gaps in health preparedness and (2) the urgent need to strengthen cross-sectoral work with the security, civil protection and health sectors.
The coordinator, has in the development of the proposal, focused on attracting relevant technical expertise from health, law enforcement and civil defense sectors to support delivery on the main objectives.
The work of the Joint Action will be done in eight work packages. Four of which are core work packages: coordination, dissemination, evaluation and integration & sustainability. And four technical work packages that will be addressing the following areas: preparedness and response planning, cross sectorial collaboration, risk and crisis communication and novel threats.
The proposal is supported by 18 applicants, and at the time of submission it includes 34 affiliated entities. If successful, the project will have a running time of 36 months.

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Topic: 2.2 Support capacity-building against health threats in Member States, including, where appropriate, cooperation with neighbouring countries: develop preparedness and response planning taking into account, and coordinating with, global initiatives, components of generic and specific preparedness planning, public health response coordination, non-binding approaches on vaccination; address the increasing health threats resulting from global population movements; develop guidelines on protective measures in an emergency situation, guidelines on information and guides to good practice; contribute to the framework for a voluntary mechanism, including the introduction of optimal vaccination coverage to effectively combat the resurgence in infectious diseases and for joint procurement of medical countermeasures; develop coherent communication strategies.
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The SHARP Joint Action will strengthen implementation of Decision 1082/2013/EU, supporting the EU level preparedness and responses to health threats and the implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005). The Joint Action implements actions mentioned in Annex 1 of the Annual Work plan 2018 of the EU Health Programme 2014-2020.
Through the Joint Action, the member and partner states and the Unions common ability to prevent, detect and respond to biological outbreaks, chemical contamination and environmental and unknown threats to human health will be strengthened. Special efforts will be employed to fill gaps that have been or will be identified in priority countries (countries that have biggest gaps in the capacity required for full IHR capability). The Joint action consists of 10 Work Packages, covering core public health capacities according to the IHR (2005). In addition to a coordination function, these will cover areas such as Communication, Evaluation, Sustainability, IHR core capacity, Preparedness, Laboratories, Training and exercises, Chemical threats and Clinical management.
SHARP will also collaborate with several other Joint Actions, specifically the “Healthy Gateways” that addresses Points of Entry, the Joint Action on Vaccination (EU-JAV) and the Joint Action on Antimicrobial Resistance (EU-JAMRAI).
The partnership of the joint action consists of 26 Associated Partners and 33 Affiliated Entities, which all will receive Commission co-funding. In addition there are 9 Collaborating Partners that will self-fund all activities that they participate in. Totally 30 countries (24 EU members, 3 EEA/EFTA members and 3 European neighborhood countries) participate in the Joint Action. The SHARP JA will liaise with and collaborate with the ECDC, the WHO EURO regional office and the WHO Health Emergency and IHR unit in Lyon, and IANPHI in relevant activities. Special emphasis will be made to avoid duplication of work for the member states.

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Topic: 2.2 Support capacity-building against health threats in Member States, including, where appropriate, cooperation with neighbouring countries: develop preparedness and response planning taking into account, and coordinating with, global initiatives, components of generic and specific preparedness planning, public health response coordination, non-binding approaches on vaccination; address the increasing health threats resulting from global population movements; develop guidelines on protective measures in an emergency situation, guidelines on information and guides to good practice; contribute to the framework for a voluntary mechanism, including the introduction of optimal vaccination coverage to effectively combat the resurgence in infectious diseases and for joint procurement of medical countermeasures; develop coherent communication strategies.
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Vaccination is an increasing priority at global, European, and national levels. Given stagnating vaccination coverage across Europe, fueled in part by growing vaccine hesitancy and the specific challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, targeted action through a 'whole of society' approach should be taken to increase vaccine uptake and contribute to the 2018 Council Recommendation on vaccination. Building on existing initiatives and learnings, the IMMUNION project (Improving IMMunisation cooperation in the European UNION) will add value to EU and national initiatives - particularly the Coalition for Vaccination. IMMUNION's consortium partners represent five Coalition for Vaccination members, four national public health actors, one university and two media and communications firms. This balanced partnership will cooperate to increase stakeholder collaboration to address issues of access to accurate information about vaccination and to improve education and training opportunities for health professionals and students. Project activities are tied directly to the project's general and specific objectives, with the ultimate aim to support the Coalition for Vaccination. Activities are spread across six complementary and inter-linking work packages that are joined together by a focus on effective communication - both within the health sector and to wider groups in society. Activities include the development of a dedicated Coalition for Vaccination website with integration to the existing SEKI Platform, a Training-of-Trainers Workshop, developing National Toolboxes of vaccination communication best practices, and improving the visibility of the Coalition for Vaccination. Expected outcomes include increased awareness and use of validated training materials, increased ability for health professionals and students to communicate about vaccines, enhanced media reporting on vaccination, and improved overall equity in vaccination for populations with lower vaccine coverage.
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Topic: 2.2 Support capacity-building against health threats in Member States, including, where appropriate, cooperation with neighbouring countries: develop preparedness and response planning taking into account, and coordinating with, global initiatives, components of generic and specific preparedness planning, public health response coordination, non-binding approaches on vaccination; address the increasing health threats resulting from global population movements; develop guidelines on protective measures in an emergency situation, guidelines on information and guides to good practice; contribute to the framework for a voluntary mechanism, including the introduction of optimal vaccination coverage to effectively combat the resurgence in infectious diseases and for joint procurement of medical countermeasures; develop coherent communication strategies.
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