Project name: Reinforcing Austrian Integrated Surveillance and Epidemiology

The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) is responsible for the epidemiological surveillance of communicable diseases in Austria. As in many other countries, the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed gaps and weaknesses in Austria's national surveillance systems. This project aims to identify and use electronic health data for surveillance purposes, improve standardized and automated data analysis of national surveillance data, link human and animal health data and implement ongoing state-of-the-art capacity-building of local and national public health authorities. This project will evaluate and improve current methods, as well as address surveillance gaps with new, sustainable tools. The main pillars of the project are: (1) capacity building for public health staff through training, networking, and knowledge transfer, (2) digitalization and automated surveillance of infectious diseases, and (3) development of a data platform for human and animal health. Together, these activities will make a long-term and sustainable contribution to expanding and digitalizing the Austrian surveillance system under the One Health premise, ensuring Austria is better prepared to detect, assess, and respond to future outbreaks and pandemics.