Editorial
The Public Health Congress on Maritime Transport and Ports 2024: Innovations in Infectious Diseases Control and Occupational Health was held on 18–19 October 2024 in the historic city of Naples, Italy. The Congress was organized by the European Scientific Association for Health and Hygiene in Maritime Transport (EU SHIPSAN Association)¹, which established in 2018 in order to ensure the continuation and sustainability of the activities of the European Commssion’s EU SHIPSAN ACT Joint Action, in collaboration with the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA)² and the Association of Mediterranean Cruise Ports (MedCruise)³. The Congress was held under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy and the National Public Health Organization (NPHO) of Greece and brought together representatives from governments, industry, and the scientific community to address emerging challenges and opportunities in safeguarding public health in the maritime transport sector. The conference provided a platform for sharing opinions, best practices, research findings, and innovative approaches related to infectious disease prevention and control, occupational health, maritime healthcare, environmental health and hygiene, and healthy ship design for strengthening public health actions in the framework of green maritime operations. Across two days, nine round tables addressed a wide spectrum of issues regarding safeguarding health in the maritime transport sector, including:
• Maritime occupational medicine: known and emerging health risks and their management
• The Horizon Europe HEALTHY SAILING project⁴: innovations in training and early threat detection on large passenger vessels
• Diagnostics, vaccines, and the ship's medicine chest
• Dialogue forum for global collaboration in cruise ship health and hygiene
• Health and hygiene in inland navigation vessels
• Horizon Europe Healthy Ship for You (HS4U) project⁵: innovations in healthy ship design
• Respiratory infections on board ships: redefining airborne transmission and presenting the latest research findings
• Acute gastroenteritis in cruise ships: innovations and new evidence
• EU SHIPSAN inspection⁶ and training activities
The congress was further enriched by interventions from the World Health Organization with regards to the amendments to the International Health Regulations and the implications for governments, port and ship operators, as well as the WHO Pandemic Agreement⁷. In addition to the above, 27 oral presentations addressed topics such as environmental health and hygiene, inspections, norovirus gastroenteritis, COVID-19, influenza and other infectious diseases, crew occupational health, preparedness and response to outbreaks, and cross-border health threats related to maritime transport⁸. Moreover, the congress also included a dedicated workshop on “Health and Hygiene in the Maritime Transport and Port Terminal Sectors: An Operators’ Perspective” took place that included panel discussions with both port operators and large passenger vessel operators on public health and sustainability considerations. Overall, the exchange of ideas and presentation of innovations exceeded expectations and provided a strong foundation for the next Congress in 2026, which is soon to be announced. Looking forward to welcoming you to the next Public Health Congress on Maritime Transport and Ports in 2026.