Belgian Working Group PREZODE

Belgian Working group PREZODE

Belgium joined the PREZODE initiative on October 29^th, 2021. The Belgian Working Group (WG) PREZODE was created on June 29^th, 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), FPS Health, Sciensano, 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

Following up on the 2023 policy recommendations provided to the competent ministers, the Belgian 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 were discussed and validated last June during the experts’ workshop (“One World, One Health, One Prevention!”) organised by the FPS Public Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, and they have been published in WG PREZODE 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

One World One Health Vision :

• Workshop 1 – March 8^th, 2023
• Workshop 2 – June 30^th, 2023
• Workshop 3 – October 6^th, 2023
• Policy Recommendations