MATRIX: Connecting dimensions in One-Health surveillance

MATRIX was an EU-co-funded 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. By the end of 2022, 19 partner institutes from 12 European countries constituted the MATRIX Consortium.

Project Outputs, Outcomes and Impacts

MATRIX created solutions for European countries to support and advance the implementation of OHS, 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 and OH-EpiCap tool user guide.
• 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: Dashboard Information Centre.
• Guidelines and checklists:
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • A guide to design, implement, and evaluate official controls within the food safety sector using output-based standards – available here.

MATRIX also promoted and expanded:

• The OHS Codex: The Knowledge Integration Platform – a framework to integrate various resources that help to implement OHS in all sectors.
• Food Safety Knowledge Exchange (FSKX) Format – a format that supports the One Health community in sharing and re-using mathematical models as well as data analysis procedures.

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. In actuality, MATRIX meant “a frame of solutions and hazards”. 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, to present the project’s outcomes to a variety of stakeholders (briefing note available).

The MATRIX webinar about the One Health Surveillance CODEX: The Knowledge Integration Platform (OHS Codex/KIP) is available to watch as a video here.

The Project Impact Brochure is available on Zenodo.