Serbia, a country in the Western Balkans between Southeastern and Central Europe, faces many diseases. It is suffering from the dual burden of communicable and noncommunicable illnesses to the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria spreading across Europe. Health organizations are working relentlessly to strengthen disease prevention efforts in Serbia.

European Center for Disease Prevention and Control

Over the past few months, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has visited Serbia. It aims to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of Serbia’s handling of communicable diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) or antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

AMR is a major global concern as antibiotic use continues. Within the European Union (EU) alone, 35,000 people die each year from antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. The visits by ECDC experts ensure that roadmaps can be produced to follow AMR trends across the country, focusing on important sectors such as public safety, human and animal health.

The ECDC organized these visits using a “One Health” approach. The approach is a collaborative, multi-sectoral goal to achieve positive health for humans, animals and the environment, recognizing that the health of these three groups is interconnected. Using the approach, the EU hopes to increase disease prevention in Serbia and throughout Europe.

In addition to supporting the One Health initiative, the ECDC visited Serbia to help strengthen the surveillance of communicable diseases. On March 18, 2025, the agency released a report on its visit outlining several key recommendations:

• Case definition revision. Revise case definitions within Europe’s most recent legal framework to understand “notifiable” diseases at the EU level in 2025.
• Decrease surveillance burden for data providers. An automatic “integration of clinical and laboratory data” will decrease the chance of error within the system.
• Improve notification timelines. Hold more meetings with stakeholders to collect overviews of notifications, which will aid in the surveillance of diseases.

The World Bank Group

The World Bank Group began a Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Control Project for Serbia to aid in improving the Serbian health system. Efforts within the project include five main goals:

• Improving the competence of providers.
• Increasing accessibility to services.
• Strengthening clinical and public health services.
• Supporting project management, monitoring and assessment.
• Improve government response in cases of emergency.

The World Bank Group initiated the project in December 2024. Efforts in the project are primarily focused on health facilities and construction, with a secondary focus on health and a tertiary focus on public administration. While the completion ratings and results have yet to be reported, the World Bank Group has reported “satisfactory” reviews for its management and progress in achieving the project goals.

Conclusion

The initiatives taken by groups like the ECDC and the World Bank Group are the first but the most important steps in securing a healthy future for the people in Serbia and worldwide. Suppose projects like the One Health approach improve Serbia’s prevention and control of disease. In that case, the broader application of this method can improve health systems in other developing countries.

– Matthew Perduk

Matthew is based in Chantilly, VA, USA and focuses on Good News and Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr