A number of Eastern European and Central Asian countries are considered by the World Bank as lower or middle-income countries (LMICs). Their growing economies are undergoing rapid change. Consequently, environmental and occupational health needs are great.

The University of Florida Department of Environmental and Global Health, College of Public Health and health professions is collaborating with Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and created a One Health Center for Environmental and Occupational Research GEOHealth Hub at Babeş-Bolyai University. The GEOHealth Hub is capitalizing on pre-existing research collaborations in partnering with 11 other academic centres and 16 public health institutions in 7 other Eastern European and Central Asian LMICs: Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Romania. The GEOHealth Hub focuses upon three research and training areas 1) aquatic health, 2) food safety, and 3) zoonotic diseases.

Objectives

The long-term objective of the GEOHealth Hub is to strengthen institutional capacity for environmental and occupational research and training at the 12 participating academic centres. Specific aims in the first two years are 1) conduct an evidence-based needs and opportunities assessment to identify environmental and occupational public health problems in Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Romania; 2) establish the GEOHealthHub at Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania; 3) design research studies that address the focal research topics of the GEOHealth Hub and plan the necessary capacity building to successfully conduct the Center’s research activities, and 4) develop an evaluation plan for monitoring the success of Aims 1-3.