On this page, you will find all the activities in which we are involved with our partners.
PREZODE Working Group
Belgium joined the PREZODE initiative on 29 October 2021. The Belgian Working Group (WG) PREZODE was created on 29 June 2022 and is open to public administrations and public scientific institutions but also to other Belgian PREZODE members as well as anyone interested in the prevention of zoonotic diseases.
The Group currently consists of representatives from the Flemish Region, the Walloon Region, the Brussels Capital Region, the Belgian Biodiversity Platform (BBPf), Belgian Science Policy (Belspo), the FPS Health, Sciensano, the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC), the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITG), Ghent University (UGent), Liège University (ULg), and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
The PREZODE expert group is complemented with ad hoc representatives from other research organisations, stakeholders, and policy makers as required for its activities or topics discussed.
The mandate of the Belgian WG PREZODE consists of:
- Mapping administrative, political and scientific actors, projects and initiatives contributing to the prevention and control of zoonotic outbreaks in Belgium and worldwide
- Proposing a One World One Health vision for Belgium, based on the PREZODE Strategic Agenda and the results of the mapping exercise.
Activities
2025
BELVIR symposium
BELVIR, the Belgian Society for Virology, is a non-profit organisation founded in 2012, serving as a forum for scientists active in all aspects of virology. The society hosts a symposium every year to share insights from state-of-the-art virological research from Belgium and abroad.
At the 3 December 2025 edition, One Health expert Dominique Vandekerchove presented the poster “Prevention at source of emerging zoonotic diseases in Belgium – WG PREZODE”, which highlights the PREZODE initiative. The poster was co-authored with Maud Istasse (FPS Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment) and Hein Imberechts (Sciensano).
POSTER & ABSTRACT
One World, One Health, One Prevention workshop
On 4 June 2025, the FPS Public Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment organised a workshop (“One World, One Health, One Prevention!”) on zoonoses, with the objective to assess the risk of their emergence in Belgium and their prevention in the light of socio-environmental drivers that impact our society. Visit the event webpage to access the programme, the presentations, and the pictures of the event.
Following up on the 2023 policy recommendations provided to the competent ministers, the WG PREZODE was tasked to continue its work and identify priority actions to prevent the emergence of zoonotic diseases in selected high-risk activities. These proposed actions are detailed in the newly published Memorandum (June 2025).
Details and outcomes of the workshop:
- Workshop programme
- Workshop presentations
- Pictures from the workshop
- ZooBiodiv study by Sciensano and the FPS Public Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, with support from the Belgian Biodiversity Platform.
2024
Exploration of the possibilities to implement the Policy Recommendations in Belgium.
2023
Over the course of 2023, the Belgian PREZODE Expert Group — with support from the Belgian Biodiversity Platform, FPS Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment and Sciensano — organised a series of three workshops to discuss and develop a national One World One Health vision for Belgium, with a focus on the emergence of zoonotic diseases.
These workshops gathered experts from across sectors including biodiversity, human health, veterinary science, climate change, science policy, and scientific research. Together, they worked towards defining a shared Belgian perspective on One World One Health.
Based on the outcomes of the workshops, the BeoH network drafted in December 2023 the Belgian One World One Health Vision policy recommendations towards prevention of zoonotic disease emergence.
You will find here the links to the workshops and recommendations:
- Workshop 1 – 8 March 2023
- Workshop 2 – 30 June 2023
- Workshop 3 – 6 October 2023
- Policy Recommendations