MED-VET-NET: A Network of Excellence on foodborne zoonoses

​​​​​​Zoonoses are diseases naturally transmitted from animals to humans. They are a major public health problem. Such diseases, especially when transmitted by food, have significant social and financial repercussions in Europe and therefore need to be studied in the general framework of the food chain.

The Med-Vet-Net Association is a European network of excellence bringing together veterinary and public health research institutes. This network currently consists of 22 institutions, half in the veterinary field and half in public health, in 14 countries. Previously coordinated by ANSES, it is now chaired by the Director of the Centre for Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology at the RIVM - National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, in the Netherlands. The network has been the driving force behind establishment of the One Health EJP.

As a European project selected in 2003, Med-Vet-Net received significant funding (€14.4 million) under the European Union's 6^th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP6) for the period 2004-2009. 

Since 2010, the Med-Vet-Net network has had the status of non-profit Association under the French Act of 1901, which has given it the legal framework to pursue its activities at European level.

On 1^st January 2018, the "One Health" European Joint Programme (EJP) was launched. It aims to acquire new knowledge in the areas of foodborne zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance and emerging zoonotic threats, and to organise an integrated network for the monitoring and control of foodborne zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance according to the "One Health" approach. This five-year programme, co-financed by Horizon 2020 (the European Union's framework programme for research and innovation) and coordinated by ANSES, was initiated by the Med-Vet-Net Association and its members. The Med-Vet-Net Association is a partner of the One Health EJP.