The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw)10 Million Euros Awarded for One Health Research in Netherlands

In the next five years, Erasmus MC, together with partners from the Netherlands Centre for One Health, a partner organization of The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), member of GloPID-R, will investigate how the Netherlands can be better prepared for infectious diseases transmitted by mosquitoes.

Various global changes affect the human, animal, and environment ecosystem making new outbreaks of existing and new virus diseases possible. © Marion Koopmans / Frank Deege

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded almost 9 million euros for this research. This amount has been supplemented to 10 million euros in contributions from seven collaborating public organizations. The multidisciplinary character of the collaboration, in which citizen science will play a role, is unique.

Outbreaks of (new) infectious diseases in humans and animals are becoming more prevalent worldwide. That is due to various factors, such as population growth, international trade, international travel and climate change. In the Netherlands, a relatively large number of people, livestock and animals live near each other. In combination with water-rich landscape and busy international trade and travel, it makes the population vulnerable to outbreaks of infectious diseases.

Professor Marion Koopmans, GloPID-R Scientific Advisor, virologist at Erasmus MC and one of the Scientific Directors of the Netherlands Centre for One Health said:

“Large disease outbreaks are thankfully quite rare. However, if such an outbreak occurs, we only investigate it from that moment onwards, which means we are always chasing after the facts. However, given our changing world, we need to be ready for more frequent infectious disease outbreaks, also in Europe. As the health of people, animals and the environment is interrelated, the most effective approach is to consolidate our strengths by collaborating with partners from different disciplines. By working together, we will be better prepared for the future.”