Memo: Disease control: Inaugural ECDC Management Board meeting appoints Chair and Deputy Chair

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) took up its work in the week following 27 September 2004. The inaugural meeting of the Centre's Management Board, held on 28 September, took a number of important decisions. It elected Dr. Marc Sprenger, Director-General of the National Institute for Health and Environment (RIVM) in the Netherlands, as Chairman of the ECDC's Management Board. Dr. Meni Malliori, Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at the University of Athens and a former Member of the European Parliament, was elected as Deputy Chair. The Management Board is responsible for devising the ECDC's work programme, approving its budget and overseeing its management.

The mission of the ECDC is to strengthen Europe's defences against infectious diseases, such as SARS, influenza and HIV-AIDS, by networking the knowledge in Member States' disease control agencies and facilitating co-operation between them.

European Commission: DG Health: Overview of Health Policy: Health Strategy: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) http://ec.europa.eu/comm/health/ph_overview/strategy/ecdc/ecdc_en.htm

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