Side-event Planetary health One health

Workshop on “Planetary health and One health Caregivers – A growing Belgian network”

Side-event Be-cause health Conference 2026 'Do we Care?' on failing care in times of polycrisis

Organised by the Planetary Health Working Group of the Be-cause health network, this workshop is a side event of the 2026 conference "Do we Care?".

Environmental degradation and the climate crisis are affecting health more and more, both locally and globally. Yet in Belgium, planetary health and One health has not yet been fully integrated into public health thinking and action.

The workshop focuses on three levers for change: interdisciplinary collaboration across health, academic, education and policy sectors; training health professionals so they can integrate the environment into their everyday practice; and putting planetary and One health on the Belgian political agenda.

19/10/2026

15:00 - 17:00

Enabel (room Turkana), Rue Haute/Hoogstraat 147 1000 Brussels

Objectives of the session

The session will bring together people from healthcare, research, education and international cooperation.

It aims to:

Learn from concrete experiences in Belgium, France and the United Kingdom, especially on training health professionals and on bringing planetary health into curricula, public policy and practice.
Develop solutions and recommendations together, grounded in local practice, for the short, medium and long term: which sectors can act, and how?
Strengthen connections between people working on Planetary health and One Health in Belgium.

Much of the session is set aside for discussion with participants. Their input will feed into the policy brief that the network will draft following the conference on 20 October. The brief will set out recommendations for Belgian policymakers, with particular attention to implementing the European Union (EU) Global Health Strategy.

3:00 - 3:10 PM

Welcome and Introduction to the workshop and its objectives, by Davide Ziveri (HI) and Dominique Vandekerchove (Sciensano & Belgian Biodiversity Platform)

3:10-3:25 PM

Keynote "Strengthening Collaboration on One Health and Planetary Health in Belgium", by Nicolas Antoine-Moussiaux (Université de Liège)

3:25-3:45 PM

Discussants Julie Meunier (CIRAD France) and Taofeekat Adigun (Action Aid UK) sharing experiences, approaches and lessons learned from France and the UK.

3:45 - 4:45 PM

Interactive group discussion to identify key challenges and develop a problem and solutions tree, facilitated by Stéphanie Richard (Care-Act-Terre).

4:45 - 5:00 PM

Conclusions and Way forward, facilitated by Stéphanie Richard (Care-Act-Terre).

Dominique Vandekerchove is a veterinary surgeon, epidemiologist and doctor in veterinary sciences with experience in veterinary practice, research, and project funding. Since 2023 she is One Health coordinator at Sciensano and the Belgian Biodiversity Platform. She also coordinates the Belgian One Health network. Since 2024 she is a member of the Be-cause health Planetary Health working group.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominiquevandekerchove/

Nicolas Antoine-Moussiaux is professor in Integrative Approaches to Health at the University of Liege (Belgium). As a veterinarian trained in economics and sociology, he has lead or contributed to several projects in Central and West Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia. His research fits into an interdisciplinary perspective to support public and private decision-making for the integrated management of health risks. Over the last fifteen years, he has developed a strong commitment for One Health implementation, through teaching and research.

Taofeekat Adigun is a systems thinker working at the intersection of international development, philanthropy and global health. Her work spans funding, partnerships and systems change, with a focus on how resources, institutions and policy decisions shape equity and access. She has contributed to health systems strengthening, public health emergency response, gender equity, and digital innovation projects across Africa and Europe. Taofeekat is also the Founder of Femme Circle, a cross-border network expanding global opportunities for young women of colour. She holds a dual Master’s degree in Public Health and International Development from the University of Sheffield, UK.

Julie Meunier completed a Master’s degree at the Strasbourg Institute of Political Studies in partnership with the University of Medicine, entitled “Health and the Political Environment”. She was then recruited by CIRAD to work on the PREZODE initiative, which is an international initiative centered on the “One Health” approach. She is currently a PhD student at CIRAD (ASTRE unit) and at IRD (CEPED). Her thesis focuses on the ‘One Health’ approach and its inter-scale relationships, with a particular focus on its implementation in Senegal and the science-policy dialogue

Stephanie Richard is a nurse specialising in public health and eco-adviser. She is an active member of the environmental working group of the Scientific Society of General Practice (SSMG) and of Shifters Santé Belgique. She is also a trainer, speaker and facilitator promoting resilient healthcare that respects all living things. Currently she is the co-facilitator of the ‘Santé en Transition’ programme and project lead for the ‘Santé en Transition – One Health’ project, supported by Coopcity.