Last update: 02/2004
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What is EUPHIN?
Objectives
How does it work?
Achievements
Who benefits?
The role of IDA
Technical information
Documentation
What is EUPHIN?
The EU Public Health Information Network (EUPHIN) provides the telematic support to the EU human health information and knowledge system.
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Objectives
The main objective of EUPHIN is to support the collection and sharing of objective, reliable, compatible and comparable information on human health at European Community level. The analysis of such information allows the Commission and Member States to improve public information and formulate appropriate strategies, policies and actions.
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How does it work?
EUPHIN involves many authorities and research institutes. A good example is the Early Warning and Response System (EWRS) on communicable diseases that links the competent authorities in all EU Member States. When there is a case of a serious communicable disease, or a threat (such as SARS - Severe Acute Respiration Syndrome), in the EU or beyond, a warning message is sent through a dedicated system. That enables the authorities to react promptly and coherently to health threats. As the messages and warnings are saved into a database the institutes and researchers can later analyse them in detail. EUPHIN consists of centrally stored components, including the application itself, a number of remote databases and distributed sites in different Member States. They are all connected through the TESTA network.
Due to the nature of the information, confidentiality and data security play an important role in the design and working of the system. EUPHIN is currently built around three subsystems:
- Health information exchange and monitoring system;
- Health surveillance system for communicable diseases;
- Injury surveillance system.
EUPHIN enables the daily operation of an early warning system on communicable diseases and databases as a part of the Health Surveillance System for Communicable Diseases (HSSCD).
The Health Information Exchange and Monitoring System (HIEMS) makes structured health data available through a sophisticated telematics system that allows the data to reside physically in different countries.
The Injury Surveillance System (ISS) is used to monitor and analyse the status, trends and causes of injuries in the EU. A EUPHIN newsletter highlights the latest developments in the system.
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Achievements
- EUPHIN is now in its implementation phase. In 2002, the system was migrated to the Commission's Data Centre with security improvements.
- Ongoing developments in the area of public health and health telematics have made it necessary to plan for next steps in the system's operation. An analysis of the needs under the new action programme on public health for 2003-2008 is currently underway. The analysis is based on evaluations of the early warning and response system, of the benefits of the health monitoring system and a global project analysis.
- A feasibility study on a public health portal that will include a public user interface to EU health data is to be developed.
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Who benefits?
Policy makers and Professionals needing timely and reliable information on human health in the EU.
Public Administrations: to support the implementation of EU legislation, such as directives on blood and tobacco.
European Experts: EUPHIN is currently used by selected European experts. However, an informal estimate says that 3,000 experts across Europe could benefit from the system's information on communicable diseases and 1,600-2,000 from the monitoring of data (estimate from 2001). Due to the sensitive nature of the data, most parts of the current system will not be opened to a wider audience. The results of analyses will in the future be made available through the public health portal.
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The role of IDA
The development of EUPHIN started in December 1996 and makes use of TESTA and CIRCA. The IDA Programme has been the main IT driving force in its development. IDA contributed decisively to the financing of the EUPHIN database development.
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Technical information
|
Project start date |
1996 |
|
Project completion date |
2002 |
|
Project status |
Implementation |
|
IDA budget |
€ 3,785,000 |
|
Responsible service |
DG Health and Consumer Protection |
|
Project coordinator |
Jürgen Scheftlein |
|
Contact |
idabc@ec.europa.eu |
|
Countries involved |
All EU Member States and EFTA countries, as well as the Acceding and Candidate Countries. |
|
Background information |
http://ec.europa.eu/health/horiz_newsletter_en.htm |
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Documentation: |
Print
EUPHIN GIP - March 2000 (PDF)
