Cyprus, Italy working together on disease control

Cyprus is collaborating with Italian health authorities to formulate an agreement to cooperate on issues related to infectious diseases control, the health ministry announced Saturday.

The news came a day after Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantelas met with his Italian counterpart Roberto Speranza in Rome to explore ways of cooperation in the health sector, focusing on the issue of surveillance and control of infectious diseases.

In a statement, the health ministry said that the meeting focused on three main areas, namely the collection, analysis and dissemination of data, the investigation of clusters of cases and the epidemiological investigation of newly emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases.

Training in epidemiology and public health education in general in relation to infectious diseases were also discussed during the meeting.

The considerable experience of the Italian authorities in epidemiological surveillance and control of infectious diseases was assessed and the possibility of cooperation in the design of strategic plans to address them was explored.

The two ministers decided departments within the two ministries should start cooperation to formulate the memorandum of understanding, which will be signed at a later stage.