Category Research project
  • Mikrobiologie

Connecting dimensions in One-Health surveillance

Project status
Completed
Project start
Jan 2020
Project end
Dec 2022
Acronym
EJP MATRIX
Department
Biologische Sicherheit

Description and Objective

MATRIX is a project within the framework of the One Health European Joint Programme. It aimed to advance the implementation of One Health Surveillance in European countries, by identifying and extending existing cross-sectoral programmes including animal health, public health and food safety. The following activities were planned: 1) Develop guidelines to adapt existing Animal Health (AH), Public Health (PH), and Food Safety (FSshort forfood supplements) surveillance frameworks into sector-specific systems that effectively monitor inter-sectorial hazards. This includes creating an inventory of existing frameworks and suggesting adaptations for each sector, supported by thorough evaluations. 2) Define a cross-sectorial framework for best practices in data collection, analysis, and dissemination of surveillance results to enhance One-Health (OH) collaboration. This involves mapping surveillance chains, identifying effective linkages and information-sharing strategies to optimize OH decision-making, and establishing a common OH surveillance framework where applicable. 3) Propose guidelines for designing, implementing, and evaluating official controls using output-based standards, including feasibility testing and developing strategies for evaluating surveillance systems within the food safety sector. 4) Develop "EUEpiCap," a benchmarking tool to monitor and evaluate sectorial OH surveillance activities across Member States (MS), by reviewing and enhancing methods for evaluating surveillance systems. 5) Create a roadmap for the future development of national OH surveillance activities, considering various infrastructural and economic capacities, and developing a national OHS roadmap template. This includes the creation of a Knowledge Integration Platform. 6) Generate cross-sectorial decision and collaboration dashboards for varying infrastructural and economic levels, defining content needs and technically implementing and testing these dashboards.

Result

Project Outputs, Outcomes and Impacts MATRIX created solutions for European countries to support and advance the implementation of OHS (One Health Surveillance) , also known as the "MATRIX Solutions for One Health Surveillance". They are: •             OH-EpiCap Tool – an interactive tool to evaluate the capacities and capabilities for the OHS of a hazard of choice, identifying strengths and opportunities for improvement. Additionally, the tool allows the benchmarking of surveillance capacities and capabilities for comparison. More information is available here: OH-EpiCap tool flyer https://onehealthejp.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/OHEJP-MATRIX_OH-EpiCap-flyer.pdf and in the OH-EpiCap tool user guide https://onehealthejp.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/OHEJP_MATRIX_OH-EpiCap_user_guide_2022_06.pdf •             Roadmap to develop national OHS – a guideline that countries can use to develop OHS according to their needs and resources. The roadmap expanded the work of the OHEJP COHESIVE project and is available at https://www.ohras.eu/page/home – copy-paste this link in your browser. •             Manual for OHS Dashboards – an online dashboard inventory and practical manual to facilitate the design and implementation of OHS dashboards using open-source tools. More information is available here https://sva-se.github.io/MATRIX-dashboards/ •             Guidelines and checklists: o             An interactive guide to facilitate the development of multi-sectoral OHS frameworks from existing animal health, public health and food safety surveillance systems. A beta version is available here https://ejp-matrix.eu/ o             Best-practices to operationalize cross-sectoral collaborations with a focus on data collection, data sharing, data analysis, and the dissemination of surveillance results – available here https://zenodo.org/record/7053387#.Y5nYiHbMJPY o             A guide to design, implement, and evaluate official controls within the food safety sector using output-based standards – available here https://zenodo.org/record/7390006#.Y5nYjnbMJPY MATRIX also promoted and expanded: •             The OHS Codex: The Knowledge Integration Platform (short OHS Codex/KIP) – a framework to integrate various resources that help to implement OHS in all sectors, available here https://oh-surveillance-codex.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html. The OHS Codex/KIP was established on the basis of the “OHS Codex”, which was developed in the previous integrative project JIP ORION (One health surRveillance Initiative on harmOnization of data collection and interpretation). This work resulted in what is now the “OHS Codex: The Knowledge integration platform” in MATRIX (task leader was BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment). •             Food Safety Knowledge Exchange (FSKX) Format – a format developed within the RAKIP Initiative (more info on RAKIP here https://foodrisklabs.bfr.bund.de/rakip-initiative/), was expanded in MATRIX to support the One Health community in sharing and re-using mathematical models as well as data analysis procedures. More information about the FSKX format here https://foodrisklabs.bfr.bund.de/fskx-food-safety-knowledge-exchange-format/ The problem-oriented approach of the project was reflected in the creation of hazard-specific tracks to ensure that the MATRIX Solutions for One Health Surveillance were relevant to specific pathogens. The hazards were chosen based on the operational priorities of MATRIX partner institutes and their One Health relevance. They were Listeria, Salmonella, Campylobacter and emerging threats, including antimicrobial resistance, viruses and parasites. MATRIX invited European institutes working in the animal health, public health and food safety sectors to consider the opportunity to adopt these solutions and to further build upon them. In addition to the manifold initiatives that project partners and work package leaders took to further disseminate their work, the MATRIX Consortium organized and delivered a series of seven webinars, the Solutions for One Health Surveillance in Europe webinars in 2022 (https://onehealthejp.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/matrix-webinars-invitation_may23.pdf), to present the project’s outcomes to a variety of stakeholders (briefing note available here https://onehealthejp.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/OHEJP_MATRIX_briefing_note.pdf). The MATRIX webinar about the One Health Surveillance CODEX: The Knowledge Integration Platform (OHS Codex/KIP) is available to watch as a video here https://zenodo.org/record/7377759#.Y6BQbHbMKUk The Project Impact Brochure is available on Zenodo: https://zenodo.org/records/10137001
Type of project

Third-party funded project

Research focus

Gesundheit von Mensch, Tier und Umwelt (One Health) / Expositionsabschätzung und Bewertung biologischer Risiken / Internationale Zusammenarbeit

Organisational units and partners

Lead specialist group: Epidemiologie, Zoonosen und Antibiotikaresistenz (43)
Contact persons: Dr. Katja Alt, Matthias Filter, Dr. Esther Maria Sundermann, Yvonne Mensching
External partner: French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety , Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Bundesforschungsinstitut für Tiergesundheit, Technische Universität Dänemark, National Institut for Agricultural and Veterinary Research, Portugal, Complutense University of Madrid, Animal & Plant Health Agency, University of Surrey, Institut für Tierseuchenbekämpfung der Abruzzen und Molise 'G. Caporale', National Institute For Public Health and The Environment, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research , Norwegian Institute of Public Health, National Veterinary Institute, Sweden, National Veterinary Research Institute , National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Public Health Agency of Sweden, University of Copenhagen, Statens Serum Institut

Funding body and grant number

Europäische Union
Grant agreement 773830

Publications

https://doi.org/10.3897/fmj.2.70008, https://doi.org/10.3897/fmj.2.63309, https://zenodo.org/records/7414182, https://zenodo.org/records/7377759#.Y6BQbHbMKUk