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ECDC's evidence brief on tailoring models of care for migrant populations focuses on removing barriers to timely diagnosis and continuous care, specifically for HIV, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis (TB) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The brief highlights good practices to improve testing, linkage to and retention in care. It is aimed at people designing or delivering health services for migrant populations in the EU/EEA, and at anyone who needs to understand what ECDC has identified as workable approaches.

Why migrant populations need tailored models of care

According to ECDC, migrant populations often face barriers to timely diagnosis and continuous care. That framing matters: the problem is not only whether services exist, but whether people can reach them early enough and stay engaged with them over time.

For the four disease areas covered — HIV, viral hepatitis, TB and STIs — late or interrupted care has consequences both for the individual and for wider transmission. A care model that works for a settled population may fail for people who move frequently, face language or administrative obstacles, or have limited contact with formal health systems.

What the evidence brief covers

The brief is organised around three connected stages of the care pathway:

• Testing — improving how and where people are offered testing, so that diagnosis happens earlier.
• Linkage to care — making sure a positive or reactive result leads promptly into the right service.
• Retention in care — keeping people engaged in continuous care rather than losing them after the first contact.

ECDC describes these as areas where good practices can be identified and shared, rather than prescribing a single model for all countries.

How to use this in practice

If you are designing or reviewing a service, the brief is most useful as a source of transferable practices rather than a fixed protocol. A practical way to work with it:

1. Identify which of the three stages — testing, linkage, retention — is weakest in your setting.
2. Look at the good practices ECDC highlights for that stage.
3. Check whether the conditions that made a practice work elsewhere (outreach setting, community involvement, referral pathways) also apply to your context.
4. Treat the brief as evidence to inform a local decision, not as a substitute for it.

Where to find the brief

The evidence brief is published on the ECDC website (ecdc.europa.eu) as one of its publications. From the homepage, the item appears under the feature "Tailoring models of care for migrant populations," with a link to read the report. ECDC's publications section is the reliable route to the full document and to related outputs.

What this brief is and is not

It is an evidence product: it summarises good practices and points to what has worked. It is not a set of binding recommendations for every EU/EEA country, and it does not replace national guidance. For the current content, scope and any updates, read the brief itself on the ECDC site rather than relying on summaries.

ECDC publishes its recurring surveillance and threat-monitoring outputs through two main entry points on ecdc.europa.eu: the Publications section and the News section. If you want the weekly communicable disease threat report, go to Publications and look under "Surveillance and monitoring." If you want time-sensitive outbreak statements and risk assessments, go to News. The two overlap in topic but differ in purpose: Publications carries structured, recurring reports; News carries dated statements and updates as events develop.

The two entry points and when to use each

The homepage lists both. Recent items shown there include the Communicable disease threats report, 3 - 9 October, week 41 and Seasonal surveillance of dengue in the EU/EEA under Publications, alongside news items such as ECDC closely monitoring situation following case of pneumonia of unknown origin in Russia and Risk to general population remains very low following fourth imported Ebola case in Europe.

Finding the weekly communicable disease threat report (CDTR)

The CDTR is ECDC's weekly threats report and appears in the Publications section under "Surveillance and monitoring." The homepage example is dated by week number — week 41, covering 3–9 October — which tells you the reporting period is a defined epidemiological week rather than a rolling news feed.

To locate the current edition:

1. Open ecdc.europa.eu.
2. Go to Publications.
3. Select the Surveillance and monitoring category.
4. Look for the Communicable disease threats report entry with the most recent week number.

Expected result: a dated weekly report. The week number and date range in the title are your verification that you have the latest edition rather than an archived one. A common snag is landing on an older week through a search engine — check the week number against the current calendar before citing it.

The CDTR is also listed among the homepage's "Featured" links, alongside ERVISS and the Learning Portal, so it can be reached directly from the front page without going through Publications.

Respiratory virus surveillance: ERVISS

The European Respiratory Virus Surveillance Summary (ERVISS) is a featured surveillance product, listed under "Featured" on the homepage. It sits alongside the CDTR and the Learning Portal as one of the standing outputs ECDC wants visitors to reach quickly.

Use ERVISS when your question is specifically about respiratory virus activity rather than the full range of communicable disease threats. Use the CDTR when you need the broader weekly picture. The two are complementary rather than alternatives — a respiratory-focused query is served better by ERVISS, while a general "what is circulating this week" query is served by the CDTR.

Seasonal and topic-specific surveillance

Not all surveillance reporting is weekly. The homepage shows Seasonal surveillance of dengue in the EU/EEA as a Publications item, indicating that some diseases are tracked on a seasonal cycle rather than a weekly one. If you are following a vector-borne or seasonally patterned disease, check the Surveillance and monitoring category for a topic-specific series rather than assuming the weekly report covers it in the same depth.

ECDC states that it collects, analyses and shares data on more than 50 infectious disease topics, so the Surveillance and monitoring category is the place to browse when you do not yet know which series covers your topic.

Operational and laboratory material

The Publications section also carries "Operational support" documents, such as the Handbook of laboratory protocols for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) characterisation. These are not surveillance reports in the epidemiological sense — they are technical and protocol documents. If your need is a laboratory method or an operational protocol rather than disease activity data, look in this category instead of Surveillance and monitoring.

Reading ECDC risk assessments correctly

News items frequently carry a risk assessment alongside the event report. The homepage examples show the pattern: for the Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, ECDC assessed the likelihood of infection for people living in the EU/EEA as very low, while noting that information remained limited. For the suspected pneumonic plague case in Irkutsk, Russia, ECDC stated it was closely monitoring the situation.

Two things follow for anyone tracking these updates. First, the risk level is assessed for a defined population — people in the EU/EEA — not globally, so a "very low" rating does not describe risk elsewhere. Second, ECDC flags its own information limits, as in the Ebola assessment. When you cite a risk level, carry the population and the caveat with it.

Practical tracking routine

• Weekly: check Publications → Surveillance and monitoring for the newest CDTR week number.
• As events develop: check News for dated statements and revised risk assessments.
• Respiratory season: check ERVISS via the Featured links.
• Topic-specific: browse Surveillance and monitoring for a seasonal or disease-specific series.
• Methods and protocols: use the Operational support category.

The distinction that matters most: Publications for citable, dated, recurring reports; News for the current state of a developing event.

ECDC assesses the likelihood of infection for people living in the EU/EEA and publishes that assessment alongside outbreak updates, news items and periodic threat reports on its website. The homepage shows this in practice: for the Ebola disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, ECDC states that although information remains limited, it assesses the likelihood of infection for people living in the EU/EEA to be very low. A second example is the case of pneumonia of unknown origin in Russia, where ECDC says it is closely monitoring the situation following the reported death of a laboratory worker in Irkutsk from pneumonia suspected to be pneumonic plague.

What the assessment actually answers

The core output is a judgement about risk to the general population in the EU/EEA, not a clinical diagnosis or a travel instruction. In the DRC/Uganda Ebola item, the assessment is framed as the likelihood of infection for people living in the EU/EEA, and it is given even while ECDC notes that information remains limited. That combination matters: the risk level and the confidence behind it are presented together, so a "very low" conclusion sits next to the caveat that data are still incomplete.

A second pattern is that the assessment can change as events develop. The homepage lists a separate update stating that risk to the general population remains very low following a fourth imported Ebola case in Europe. An imported case does not automatically raise the population-level assessment; the two are reported as distinct facts.

Where the information appears

The "Latest" section is dated, which is how you tell whether a risk statement is current. The Ebola monitoring item is dated 6 October 2026, the imported-case update 1 October 2026, and the expert deployment to DRC 21 September 2026. For a fast-moving outbreak, the newest dated item is the one to read first.

How to read a risk statement

1. Find the item that names the specific event, not a general topic page.
2. Read the population the statement applies to — here it is people living in the EU/EEA, which is narrower than "everyone".
3. Note the stated likelihood (for example, "very low") and any accompanying limitation, such as limited information.
4. Check the date and compare it with later items on the same event, since an imported case or a new development may be covered in a separate update.
5. For routine, non-outbreak monitoring, use the weekly threats report or the relevant surveillance publication instead of a single news item.

What ECDC's own description says it does

ECDC states that it collects, analyses and shares data on more than 50 infectious disease topics, and that its experts assess risks to Europe and provide guidance to help countries prevent and respond to outbreaks and public health threats. That places the risk assessment inside a wider function: data collection and analysis feed the assessment, and the assessment feeds guidance for countries. The homepage also shows operational material alongside the assessments, such as a handbook of laboratory protocols for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) characterisation and a postcard from the field on outbreak preparedness in South Sudan.

Practical takeaways

• The risk level you see is for the EU/EEA population, and it is stated even when information is limited.
• Imported cases and population risk are reported separately; one does not silently overwrite the other.
• Dates are the main signal of currency — always match the statement to the latest dated item on that event.
• For ongoing, non-emergency monitoring, the weekly threats report and topic surveillance publications are the steadier sources than individual news posts.

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:

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.

The ECDC website (ecdc.europa.eu) is the official online presence of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, an EU agency that collects, analyses and shares data on more than 50 infectious disease topics. Its experts assess risks to Europe and provide guidance to help countries prevent and respond to outbreaks and public health threats. It is best suited to public health professionals, policymakers, researchers and journalists who need authoritative European-level surveillance and risk-assessment information, rather than to individuals seeking personal medical advice.

What the site covers

The homepage describes ECDC's core function in three parts:

• Collect and analyse data on more than 50 infectious disease topics.
• Assess risks to Europe.
• Provide guidance to help countries prevent and respond to outbreaks and public health threats.

This positions the site as a source of aggregated, cross-country information rather than a clinical service.

Types of content you will find

The homepage surfaces several recurring content categories:

How risk assessments are framed

ECDC publishes risk assessments that put outbreaks into a European context. For example, in its coverage of the Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, the site states that although information remains limited, ECDC assesses the likelihood of infection for people living in the EU/EEA to be very low. Similarly, following a reported death from suspected pneumonic plague in Irkutsk, Russia, ECDC said it was closely monitoring the situation. This shows the site's role: monitoring global events and translating them into an EU/EEA risk picture.

Who it is for

The framing of the content — guidance for countries, surveillance summaries, laboratory protocols, threat reports — indicates the primary audience is:

• National public health authorities in the EU/EEA
• Epidemiologists and laboratory specialists
• Researchers and policymakers
• Journalists and others needing a citable European reference

Practical takeaways

• Use the site when you need European-level disease surveillance, outbreak updates or risk assessments.
• Check the Publications and Surveillance and monitoring sections for recurring reports such as the weekly CDTR.
• The Learning Portal and tools like ERVISS are aimed at professionals wanting structured training or surveillance data.
• For personal health decisions, this is not the appropriate source; it provides population-level public health information.