ECDC Learning Portal: Training and Learning Resources for Public Health Professionals

Updated

The ECDC Learning Portal is the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control's dedicated entry point for training and learning resources aimed at public health professionals. It appears on the ECDC homepage (ecdc.europa.eu) under the "Featured" section, alongside tools such as ERVISS and the weekly threats reports (CDTR). If you work in public health, epidemiology, or infection prevention and want structured training material from an EU-level agency, this portal is the place to start.

What the ECDC Learning Portal is for

ECDC describes its overall role as collecting, analysing, and sharing data on more than 50 infectious disease topics, assessing risks to Europe, and providing guidance so countries can prevent and respond to outbreaks and public health threats. The Learning Portal sits within that mission as the training-facing channel: it is where ECDC consolidates learning material for the professionals who carry out surveillance, outbreak investigation, and response work.

The portal is listed on the homepage as a "Featured" item, which signals it is one of the resources ECDC wants visitors to reach quickly rather than a buried subpage.

Who it is aimed at

The primary audience is public health professionals rather than the general public. In practice this includes:

  • Field epidemiologists and outbreak investigators
  • Surveillance officers and data analysts at national or regional public health institutes
  • Laboratory specialists working on communicable disease characterisation and protocols
  • Public health staff involved in preparedness and response planning

This professional focus is consistent with the rest of the site: ECDC's featured outputs are technical documents such as the Handbook of laboratory protocols for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) characterisation, the Communicable disease threats report, and seasonal surveillance reports on topics like dengue in the EU/EEA.

How it connects to EPIET and field epidemiology training

ECDC's training identity is closely tied to its field epidemiology programme. A homepage news item, "Postcard from the field: Supporting outbreak preparedness in South Sudan – two EPIET fellows in the field" (16 September 2026), shows EPIET fellows deployed on real preparedness work. That connection matters when you are deciding where to invest your time: the Learning Portal is the general training surface, while EPIET is the flagship fellowship pathway through which fellows are placed in field assignments.

If you are considering a career step rather than a one-off course, treat the portal as the discovery layer and EPIET as the intensive, placement-based route.

How to reach the learning resources from the homepage

  1. Go to ecdc.europa.eu.
  2. Locate the Featured section, which lists the European Respiratory Virus Surveillance Summary (ERVISS), the Learning Portal, and the weekly threats reports (CDTR).
  3. Select the Learning Portal link to enter the training environment.

Expected result: you land in ECDC's learning environment rather than on a news or publication page. If you instead arrive at a report or news item, you have followed a different Featured link — return to the homepage and pick the Learning Portal entry specifically.

What else on the homepage supports learning

The homepage doubles as a current-awareness feed, which is useful for keeping training material grounded in live events:

Homepage area What it provides Learning use
Featured ERVISS, Learning Portal, weekly threats reports (CDTR) Direct route to training and recurring surveillance tools
News Outbreak and monitoring updates, e.g. Ebola in DRC and Uganda, a pneumonia case of unknown origin in Russia Case material for outbreak investigation and risk assessment practice
Publications Technical handbooks, threat reports, seasonal surveillance Reference documents for protocol and surveillance training

A concrete example: if you are preparing an exercise on risk communication, the Ebola disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda — where ECDC assessed the likelihood of infection for people living in the EU/EEA as very low — gives you a real risk-assessment statement to work from, paired with the CDTR for the ongoing reporting format.

Practical notes before you start

  • The homepage does not state pricing or login requirements for the Learning Portal. Check the portal itself for access conditions rather than assuming it is open or free.
  • ECDC's remit is EU/EEA-focused risk assessment and guidance, so material is framed around European public health structures. Professionals outside the EU/EEA can still use it, but should expect that framing.
  • Because the Featured section is curated, its contents can change; if the Learning Portal is not visible, look for it through the site's main navigation or search rather than concluding it has been removed.