One Health Surveillance

Dr Fee Zimmermann

The One Health Surveillance Core Unit facilitates the comprehensive long-term collection of samples and data on human, animal and environmental health. This sample collection serves as the basis for research in HIOH‘s departments, as well as for collaboration with our partners.

Our Research

The One Health Surveillance (OHS) core unit collects comprehensive longitudinal background data and stores samples on human, animal and environmental health. These data form the basis for in-depth studies by HIOH’s three research departments as well as for collaborative projects with our partners.

The OHS core unit works in two priority regions: Firstly, in the African tropics along population density gradients, from forests to neighboring villages to large cities; areas characterized in part by high biodiversity, but also by substantial ecological change. On the other hand, building on local projects and cohort studies (e.g. SHIP - Study of Health in Pomerania), the OHS is becoming active on HIOH’s doorstep in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV). MV is a region characterized by a rather low population density and intensive agricultural land use.

Third-party funded comparative studies complement these OHS core activities. The resulting additional data allow not only for more global analyses but also create opportunities for increased global and local knowledge transfer.

One Health Cohort

At the beginning of 2026, HIOH and its cooperation partners will launch the first One Health cohort in Côte d'Ivoire – a central pillar of our One Health Exploratories.

In addition to further information, regular updates and impressions from everyday project life are available here in blog form.