One Health Surveillance

Dr Fee Zimmermann

The One Health Surveillance (OHS) research group facilitates the comprehensive longitudinal collection of samples and contextual data on human, animal and environmental health. This collection forms a unique repository that underpins research across HIOH‘s departments and supports collaboration with international partners.

One Health Exploratories One Health Cohort Updates

Our Research

At the core of our work are the One Health Exploratories (OHEs), long-term research efforts that enable integrated, longitudinal surveillance of human, animal, and environmental health. These activities are anchored in two priority regions. In the African tropics, we work in rain forest ecosystems and neighboring communities – areas characterized by high biodiversity as well as rapid ecological change. Here, close human–animal contact, limited health infrastructure, and increasing risks of disease emergence intersect. In parallel, the OHS group conducts research in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in Northeast Germany, building on local projects and existing cohort studies (e.g. SHIP - Study of Health in Pomerania). In this region, low population density and intensive agricultural land use shape human-animal interactions. Across both regions, third-party funded studies complement continuous OHS core activities. The resulting data enable comparative global analyses and foster knowledge transfer, both into the local communities and internationally.

One Health Exploratories

One Health Exploratories are long-term, interdisciplinary research infrastructures embedded in these priority regions. Initial pilot sites in sub-Saharan Africa —Taï National Park in Côte d’Ivoire and the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas in the Central African Republic—are fully established and operational.

Similar to ‘weather stations’ of life, the Exploratories record and combine clinical monitoring of human health (in collaboration with hospitals and village health posts), long-term cohort studies within the population, systematic documentation of human–animal–environment interactions, as well as data on nutrition and socio-economic conditions. These are complemented by innovative wildlife monitoring, environmental, climate, and biodiversity measurements, and systematic recording of domestic animal health.

Developed in close collaboration with local partners and communities, the Exploratories enable early detection of emerging pathogens and support the co-development of sustainable strategies for pandemic prevention, health, and resilience. Designed as scalable models, they provide a blueprint for replication and expansion worldwide.

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One Health Cohort

In early 2026, HIOH and its cooperation partners launched the first One Health cohort in Côte d'Ivoire – a central pillar of our One Health Exploratories. Through medical examinations of healthy volunteers and their animals, combined with comprehensive surveys and a range of environmental samples, the cohort captures interactions between human, animal, and environmental health. The data collection will be repeated at regular intervals over many years, enabling the early identification of health trends associated with changing environmental and living conditions.

Further information on the cohort, as well as regular updates and insights from the day-to-day work of the HIOH cohort team in the field, can be found on our blog.

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One Health Clinical Surveillance

Another core component of the One Health Exploratories has been expanding in the Central African Republic since fall 2025: In close collaboration with local health workers, we support village health posts in patient sampling, document environmental and animal exposure, and strengthen basic clinical and diagnostic capacities.
The integration of clinical human samples with data from wildlife monitoring, environmental analyses, and socio-economic surveys enables the early detection of zoonotic pathogens and strengthens local public health capacities and outbreak response.

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