Project description
AGES is responsible for the epidemiological recording and monitoring of communicable diseases in Austria and acts in accordance with the One Health concept. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for improvement in many countries, including Austria. The RAISE project stands for the strengthening of integrated surveillance and epidemiology in Austria and aims to identify and utilise electronic data more effectively. In addition, current methods are to be evaluated, surveillance gaps closed and new sustainable tools introduced. Important cornerstones are improved data collection, linkage and analysis. Capacities for public health staff and within AGES are being developed and continuously expanded.
Better data quality in the area of public health requires uniformly good training for all those involved. AGES will provide a targeted training programme to enable all stakeholders to collect and document data in a quality-assured and standardised manner. This includes further training, teaching materials and tools for ongoing collaboration. At the same time, the necessary IT systems and platforms are being further developed (user interface, epidemiological parameters, AI).
A citizen science pilot project, comparable to GrippeWeb in Germany, is to be developed as a roadmap to collect data directly from the population and supplement existing surveillance data.
In this way, the project will help to improve preparation for pandemics, track trends effectively and identify and present the epidemiological situation quickly and validly. In this way, measures can be taken in good time to protect public health.
The project is made up of seven work packages (WP):
Project goals
The main objectives of the project are:
- Capacity development for public health personnel at national, regional, local level and within AGES;
- Establishment and expansion of integrated surveillance in all care areas, in particular respiratory infections and vector-borne infectious diseases
- Digitalisation within AGES and the interfaces to European agencies and other partners;
- Design of a platform for networking health databases.
Benefits of the project
AGES has set itself the goal of taking on a leading role in the area of One Health surveillance. The project will enable it to implement its statutory tasks more efficiently, more precisely and in a standardised and digitalised form. Risk assessment and early warning are to be improved through optimised data collection and analysis. This will allow health risks to be recognised earlier and more precise forecasts to be made, enabling targeted preventative measures and faster intervention in the event of outbreaks. International networking will also be strengthened: the regular exchange of findings and best practices between international partners will enable surveillance systems to be constantly harmonised, which in turn will ensure a faster response to health risks.
With this project, AGES is making a significant contribution to public health and crisis prevention both nationally and internationally.
Project details
| Project title | Reinforcing Austrian Integrated Surveillance and Epidemiology |
| Project acronym | RAISE |
| Project management | AGES, Dr Bernhard Benka |
| Project partner | AGES |
| Project funding | EU4Health Work Programme CP-g-23-01 (HaDEA) |
| Project duration | 01.2025 -12.2028 |
For questions about the project please contact raise@ages.at
Neuigkeiten und Aktivitäten
The kick-off meeting for RAISE took place on 29 January. With funding totalling € 4.66 million, it is the largest grant that AGES has ever received.
After welcoming words from Managing Director Johannes Pleiner-Duxneuner, the first personal exchange between project management (Bernhard Benka), project management (Karin Rainer) and representatives of the various work packages took place. RAISE is made up of the interdisciplinary team from MED, VET, DSR, WIF, IT and COM and draws on the diverse expertise of AGES.
Due to the size and variety of activities of the project, an additional coordination level was introduced for the thematic areas of surveillance and One Health. The meeting was chaired by Dirk Werber (MED-INF) and Barbara Kovács (WIMA).
The main topics of the meeting were the introduction and objectives of the project, the administration and coordination of activities and the survey of the current state of surveillance in Austria. They also discussed how to support healthcare stakeholders with specialised content, improve current data management and expand vector surveillance. The establishment of a sentinel system and the development of a joint One Health platform were also discussed, as were the most important communication and dissemination strategies
Last updated: 03.03.2025
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