Context The SPHERE project builds on cooperation with Western Balkan (WB) countries that has been in place since 2016 and follows the success of the WASP (Western Balkan Strategic Partnership for Health Protection) project. SPHERE continues to support public health institutes in Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania, and North Macedonia in enhancing…
Context Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide: in 2019, approximately 4.95 million deaths were attributable to infections with resistant bacteria. AMR-EFFECT builds directly on its GHPP-predecessor project, WHOCC-AMR, addressing the global challenges of AMR and healthcare-associated infections (HAI). It focuses on the analysis of…
Context The Western Balkans (WB6: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia) went through a particularly dramatic initial COVID-19 pandemic course, with inter alia high excess mortality (direct and indirect pandemic related deaths), low vaccination rates and stressed public healthcare systems. Consequently, the risk of future waves of…
Context In recent years, there have been efforts to upscale HIV treatment and prevention in the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including conducting studies among men who have sex with men (MSM). One commonly used method to recruit participants for these studies has been respondent-driven sampling. However, this…
Context The COVID-19 pandemic put a heavy strain on many public health systems, which had to deal with high numbers of severely ill people and deaths and with challenges regarding vaccination and medical supplies. The Balkan region was seriously affected by the pandemic, highlighting the importance of strengthening preparedness and…
Short Description COVID-19 strongly affects the living conditions of people, showing the value of reliable and timely information. The burden of disease (BoD) methodology is a suitable instrument to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on population health, but while illness and death impose a considerable impact, the disease…
Short Description GET PrepaReD helps project countries prepare for and respond to outbreaks of infectious diseases. Depending on the project country’s requirements and commitments, this project can address all stages in the crisis management cycle. GET PrepaReD supports project countries with the following objectives: Advancement of surveillance systems for the…
Background and Objectives The RKI has actively cooperated with the national Institute of Public Health in Montenegro (IPH) within the GETPrepaReD project since 2016. In this context, a kick-off workshop was held in March 2019, in which the need for the development of outbreak investigation guidelines was identified, their framework…
In November 2021, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) together with the World Health Organization (WHO), organized a joint workshop with the scope to develop an operational plan for a well-coordinated response to public health emergencies for North Macedonia. Within this plan, strengthening North Macedonia’s central PHEOC capacity and establishing a…