The 2016 EU European Union (European Union) workshop on ‘One Health risk analysis structures for emerging zoonoses’ brought together representatives of national public health institutes, veterinary institutes, food safety authorities and policymakers from the Ministries of Health and of Agriculture. The workshop aimed to improve risk analysis and management of (emerging) zoonoses in a One Health approach at national and at European level. For zoonotic diseases to be controlled, a One Health approach in which medical and veterinary professionals combine their efforts is required. As zoonotic diseases know no borders, in addition to national approaches, collaboration at international level is of great importance.

Video European workshop One Health 2016

(On-screen title: European workshop 'One Health risk analysis structures for emerging zoonoses'. A doorman opens a door. Someone gives a jacket to a woman at a counter. A screen displays, among other things: Programme Workshop November 3rd. Dilys Morgan:)

TRANQUIL MUSIC

DILYS MORGAN: I think a workshop like this is important for EU citizens,
because it's one of the few fora we have
for actually meeting our counterparts across Europe.
Obviously, within the UK, we have a very good system for human and animal health,
but there isn't the opportunity
to meet people from human and animal health from across the EU.
There are very few opportunities for doing this otherwise.
KRIS DE SMET: It's of course not always important to find the source,
but it is important to do that,
because this makes the link between the human cases and the food.
And this helps us enormously to set priorities,
or if you see human salmonellosis, to have some idea
about which are the main sources of food which may cause the disease in humans.
CHARLES PRICE: I don't need to remind this audience
that zoonoses comprise a very heterogeneous collection of threats.
Clearly, the food poisoning ones are
something which concern the EU very much.
Also, antimicrobial resistance, which the Dutch Presidency of the EU
in the first six months of this year has really put on the agenda
and highlighted for all of us how important the animal health aspects are,
that we must deal with those
at the same time as dealing with the human health aspects.
The framework is largely defined by EU law,
but actually, it's not the law that counts in the end, it's the practice.
And it's the practice based on regular contact, on human relations,
on cooperation between institutions and member states.
And that's why I think that meetings like this are so important,
to try and build that up and see how we can make this really work in practice.
MAN'S VOICE: So EFSA is meant to be at 400 staff.
Competences going from plant health...
FRANK BOELAERT: It was a very good opportunity,
and we don't have that many opportunities to exchange ideas, to exchange information
with our counterparts or the European Commission, ECDC
and also with the member states, and also to, in a very broad way,
to get challenged on the work we perform.

(Says Frank Boelaert. People sit in a circle. A man:)

THE TRANQUIL MUSIC CONTINUES

We know that vector distributions are changing with time,
not very, very fast, but they're changing.
And what may have been true for the risk in a particular area
ten years before or fifteen years before may be different now.

(A piece of paper says, among other things: Inform EU Commission. A photo of a page entitled 'Brainwriting workshop' appears. Another photo shows two women looking at a tablet screen. In yet another photo, a woman with a marker in her hand stands at a flip-chart. Kitty Maassen:)

THE TRANQUIL MUSIC CONTINUES

KITTY MAASSEN: There is no blueprint for a zoonosis structure.
So, every country has to organise it themselves.
And what we hope is that people are inspired by each other in this workshop
and take something home, so that they can improve the collaboration in their country.
Okay, another one.

(Says a photographer. The Dutch coat of arms, next to: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. The screen turns purple and white. On-screen text: This is a production of the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, RIVM.)

THE TRANQUIL MUSIC CONTINUES UNTIL THE END OF THE PROGRAMME

Organisation

RIVM organised the workshop for European countries, on behalf of the Dutch ministries of Public Health and Agriculture and in close collaboration with the European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA), Public Health England (PHE), the Swedish National Veterinary Institute (SVA), the Dutch Central Veterinary Institute (CVI), and the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA).