About WHIN

Wildlife health Surveillance supports:

• Early detection of emerging threats impacting biodiversity, livestock, and human health.
• Preventing zoonotic spillovers from wildlife to humans and livestock.
• Protecting biodiversity and natural ecosystems which provide the essential infrastructure for One Health.
• Reducing economic costs associated with health emergencies and their global repercussions.

Despite international guidelines from organizations like the World Organization for Animal Health and the Quadripartite, many countries lack consistent, long-term wildlife health surveillance systems. Existing efforts are fragmented and underfunded, undermining global One Health strategies, pandemic preparedness, and the ability of communities and nations to generate information on the health of wildlife in their ecosystems.

WHIN is an open, global community of practice that brings together experts, organizations, governments, and end-users to share knowledge and implement wildlife surveillance systems that are:

• Locally led and context-specific.
• Built through ethical engagement and co-development
• Aligned with global standards.
• Backed by strong IT infrastructure

WHIN amplifies existing local solutions across a global community of practice to address the gaps in implementation.
 

The WHIN community of practice is structured around a steering committee that provides general support and direction to the initiative, and task forces that organize the community of practice into active outcome-oriented thematic sub-groups (see Task Forces). Our steering committee currently includes representation of diverse local, national and global leaders in wildlife health surveillance (see People). The open global community of practice includes contributors and end-users that share knowledge, experiences, and solutions (see Join the Network). Learn more about our history as a working group and our charter, and the members Code of Conduct.