Dr. Hans Schrangl (Austria) Chair
AMR has been high on the European health agenda in 2020. Similarly to previous years, the Task Force took part in the European Antibiotic Awareness Day organised by the ECDC. CED contributed to the campaign by distributing relevant information on the topic and relating it to the role played by dentists in tackling AMR.
Additionally, CED was active through the Task Force during the regular meetings and activities of the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) AMR Stakeholder Network. The CED endorsed the “Roadmap for Action on Antimicrobial Resistance 5 key strategies to tackle this global threat” developed in the framework of the Network and participated in the launch of the MEP Interest Group on AMR “AMR: Setting the agenda for change” with interventions from European Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides and several Members of the European Parliament.
As a stakeholder in the EU-Joint Action on Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare-Associated Infections (EU-JAMRAI), the CED contributed to implementing JAMRAI actions and is currently hosting on its website relevant documents on AMR produced by JAMRAI.
Due to the merger of the Task Force with the Working Group Oral Health, AMR was included in the mandate of the latter and will continue being a priority for the CED.
Dr. Freddie Sloth-Lisbjerg (Denmark) Director
In 2020 the Board Task Force has been working on the Proportionality Test Directive, launching a survey on quality assessment procedures in dentistry in different countries. Consequently, the Task Force was able to collect and analyze examples based on which a future quality model could be constructed. The topic was added to the agenda of the next year, alongside topics such as partial access, corporate dentistry and advertising.
In addition, the Task Force has been collaborating with Working Group Education and Professional Qualifications on the challenges of the workforce, a topic which will be translated into a CED position paper in the future.
Nina Brandelet-Bernot Secretary General
In 2020, the focus of the Task Force shifted to the virtual realm, organizing a webinar on the topic of COVID-19 and dentistry, as well as offering support to the CED members in various publications and online events. As in previous years, the Task Force contributed to the preparation of the yearly CED publication – the Annual Report and was engaged in the CED social media presence.