European Parliament
Bowis (PPE-DE ).
Like the Commissioner I think surveillance of these diseases is fundamentally important and that is why I am concerned that there should not be a gap. As rapporteur for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, I know we are not going to have this up and running before 2005 at the most optimistic estimate, so it is the gap between now and then that I am concerned about.
Of course, the centre will not deal with cancer as it is not a communicable disease. It will deal with the other two mentioned. I know the Commissioner has been looking for solutions to cancer, because he has discussed that with our committee in the past. Nevertheless, I ask him to look very carefully at the organisations who have been doing the surveillance – particularly on tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS – and see how they can be supported over the coming two years. We are faced with a double problem in this area: one, as the Commissioner mentioned, is the exponential rise in cases in Eastern Europe, and the second is the fearsome rise we are now seeing, here and across the Atlantic, in a number of newly-diagnosed cases which are multi-drug resistant. Potentially, there is thus a dual crisis attacking us from both sides.

