Managing the pandemic – lessons learned for a safer future

From the very outbreak of the pandemic, Serbia has seen one of the highest COVID-19 mortality rates per capita. Due to the bad shape of the health care system, insufficient number of specialised medics and lack of health care equipment, as well as to the inappropriate response of the authorities, our country is among the countries whose number of deaths has been multiplied in comparison to the ten-year average. The applicable laws have not been and are not observed, the state of emergency was abused, so the pandemic was not managed in a systematic way. The communication about the very course of the pandemic was not satisfactory – dual messages were conveyed – from spreading panic to declaration of victory over the pandemic, thus contributing to justification of further state capturing. This has wrought havoc among citizens, with fear, anxiety and overall uncertainty, even disbelief that the virus and pandemic existed at all.

The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy and the Union of Physicians and Pharmacists of Serbia have conducted a survey on how Serbia countered the COVID-19 pandemic. How did the system respond? What are the results? What should be rectified in order to be better prepared for similar future crises? These are but a few questions that we are going to raise during the round-table discussion launching the analysis that addressed these issues. Recommendations on how not to repeat the identified mistakes will be presented by:

• Srdjan Hercigonja, senior researcher, BCSP
• Dr. Rade Panić, Union of Physicians and Pharmacists of Serbia
• Dr. Zoran Radovanović, Epidemiologist,
• Milja Dimitrijević, Union of Physicians and Pharmacists of Serbia.

We therefore invite you to join us at the “Metropol Palace” hotel on 6 June at 11 o’clock for discussion on these issues with experts from various fields – medicine, politics, international relations and pandemic management.

Your contribution is very relevant, so we kindly request your confirmation of participation in the round-table discussion by Thursday, 2 June to the email office@bezbednost.org . If you can take part only online, you can register using this link.

The event is organised within the project “Managing the Pandemic – Lessons Learned for a Safer Future”, implemented within  Belgrade Open School’s project “The Dialogue of Change”, with financial support of the European Union. The organisation of the event was financially supported also by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The contents do not necessarily reflect of the donors or of Belgrade Open School, and Belgrade Centre for Security Policy is solely responsible for it.

Since 2000 to date, the European Union has donated more than 3.6 billion euros to Serbia. The funds have been used to support the development, quality of life and reforms in the following areas: civil protection, protection from floods and assistance to flooded areas, education, connectivity, environment protection, health care and consumer protection, culture, rule of law, local development, businesses and economic growth, public administration, migration, public finance management, civil society and media, social inclusion, youth and sports. The EU support has been provided through cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Serbia . The European Union has donated more development funds to Serbia than all other international donors together.