WHO has extended its partnership with the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health, University Hospital Bonn, Germany, for another 3 years. First designated as a Collaborating Centre in 2001, the Institute has actively supported WHO/Europe’s work for over 25 years, including on the Protocol on Water and Health.
“The provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene continues to be challenging, especially in health-care facilities. But being a Collaborating Centre helps us share our expertise with the global community,” says Professor Nico Mutters, Medical Director for the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health, University Hospital Bonn, and head of the WHO Collaborating Centre.
With the renewal of this partnership, the Institute will continue its critical work with a renewed focus on water, sanitation and hygiene in health-care facilities, addressing the growing and emerging challenges of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and climate change, including through capacity-building.
This work will contribute directly to priorities under WHO/Europe’s Second European Programme of Work 2026–2030 (EPW2), including driving climate health action and protecting populations from environmental risks. The Bonn-based WHO Collaborating Centre for Water Management and Risk Communication for Health will support WHO in strengthening prevention, control and surveillance of water-related disease and assist in promoting adequate water, sanitation and hygiene and infection prevention and control.
Safer water for healthier lives
Legionella outbreaks are a significant threat to public health globally, causing high levels of morbidity and mortality. The data confirm that this pathogen is in fact responsible for a larger share of water-related disease outbreaks in the WHO European Region than most other pathogens. Similarly, antimicrobial resistance is placing a heavy burden on health systems and complicates responses to health emergencies – not only regionally but globally.
The Institute’s collaboration with WHO/Europe has been instrumental in developing key guidance documents promoting public health across the pan-European region and beyond.
Its contributions include key publications around water safety such as “Technical guidance on water-related disease surveillance” (2011) and “Legionella and the prevention of legionellosis” (2007). Most recently, it supported the development of the 2025 report on the “Prevalence of Legionella as a waterborne pathogen and its health impacts in the pan-European region”, released at the 7th session of the Meeting of the Parties of the Protocol on Water and Health in Budapest, Hungary.
“Having such a long-standing partnership with a WHO Collaborating Centre is invaluable to WHO, allowing us to expand our reach, profit from lively exchanges and work in real partnership,” said Nicole Klaesener, a WHO/Europe Technical Officer on Water and Sanitation.
Along with more than 300 collaborating centres across the Region, the Institute at the University Hospital in Bonn benefits from being an active part of this WHO network of leading health institutions.