Country report : ECDC public health emergency preparedness assessment for Latvia, 2025 under Article 8 of the Regulation (EU) 2022/2371

The aim of the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Assessment, as mandated in Article 8 of the Regulation (EU) 2022/2371 on serious cross border threat to health, is to improve prevention, preparedness and response planning in EU/EEA countries through the implementation of recommendations following individual country assessments. As specified in the Regulation, each EU/EEA country will undergo an assessment every three years, with the first cycle of these occurring between 2024 and 2026. This report presents the findings and recommendations of the first assessment conducted in Latvia. This involved a desk review of relevant documents, followed by a five-day country visit that took place between 17 and 21 March 2025. As per the assessment methodology, all of the 16 capacities included in Article 7 of the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1808 self-assessment template were assessed, with five of them considered in-depth: Laboratory (Capacity 3); Surveillance (Capacity 4); Health Emergency Management (Capacity 6); and Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) (Capacity 12) and Zoonotic diseases and threats of environmental origin, including those due to the climate (Capacity 10). The report also provides specific recommendations for the country to improve prevention, preparedness and response planning. Latvia is requested to provide an action plan addressing these recommendations within nine months of receiving this report.