The action aims at supporting cooperation and coordination of Member States (MS) to improve their capacities at points of entry (PoE) including ports, airports and ground crossings, in preventing and combating cross-border health threats from the transport sector. In future public health emergencies of international concern, the action will move from interepidemic mode to emergency mode supporting coherent response as per Decision No 1082/2013/EU, International Health Regulations and temporary recommendations. The action objectives will be achieved through: a) facilitating exchange of identified best practices for management of public health events, vector surveillance and control, contingency planning, validated preparedness and response plans and options for improved detection and surveillance of public health events at PoE; b) supporting MS in validating contingency plans by using assessment tools and conduct of tabletop/simulation exercises; c) providing distance and face-to-face training at local, national, European levels about contingency planning and management of events due to infections, vectors, chemical, environmental or other agents at PoE; d) supporting rapid information exchange through electronic tools by the established network for PoE; e) supporting execution of inspections on ships and airplanes; f) producing guidelines to be used by MS for dealing with chemical threats, inter-country communication and information flow in outbreak investigations and management of events on ships, for vector surveillance and control activities at PoE, for inspecting aircrafts and ships including their cargoes for vectors and auditing guidelines for hygiene inspections on ships; g) supporting intersectorial cooperation by promoting implementation of MoU among different sectors at PoE and organizing exchange of visits and exercises among PoE of neighbouring countries. The action falls under the thematic priority 2.2 of Annex I of the 2017 Annual Work Programme.
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