OneAquaHealth aims to improve the sustainability and integrity of freshwater ecosystems in urban environments. By investigating the interconnection of ecosystem health and human wellbeing, the project will identify early warning indicators and enhance environmental monitoring with AI-assisted tools. As a result, the project will support decision-makers in making adequate and timely decisions, and effective measures to restore aquatic ecosystems’ health and promote OneHealth.
The project is a Research and Innovation Action funded under the Horizon Europe programme, led by the University of Coimbra (PT) from 2023 until 2026.
Role of HL7 Europe in this project
HL7 Europe is a key support for this project as it facilitates the use of health data standards with the use of HL7 FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources). The use of FHIR enables the rapid transfer of information through the project’s various digital health and environmental monitoring tools in real time.
One of the main aspects of the project is the development of indicators for the health of the ecosystem and the prediction and prevention of risk factors such as diseases. HL7 Europe’s contribution ensures that the health data produced is standardized, accessible, and usable across all platforms. Furthermore, HL7 Europe is also leading the development of the OneAquaHealth FHIR Implementation Guide. This aims to standardize how environmental and health data are collected and used. In this way, all stakeholders, from health professionals to environmental scientists, can access and use the same high-quality data.
Timeline of accomplishments
2023
- In November 2023, as part of its mission to communicate the importance of the OneAquaHealth project, HL7 Europe published an article entitled “Integrating Earth Observation with Stream Health and Agricultural Activity” in the Remote Sensing journal (https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15235485).
- In May 2023, the OneAquaHealth HL7 team gave an introductory presentation on the OneAquaHealth project to the members of the HL7 Mobile Health Working Group (https://www.oneaquahealth.eu/2023/12/07/oneaquahealth-at-the-hl7-may-2023-working-group-meeting/).
2024
- In January 2024, representatives of the OneAquaHealth project consortium organized a workshop entitled “OneAquaHealth: Linking Urban Aquatic Ecosystems and Human Health with HL7 FHIR” as part of the Athens Digital Health Week (https://www.athensdigitalhealth.eu/programme_full/session-oneaquahealth/).
- In August 2024, HL7 Europe also represented the OneAquaHealth project at the Medical Informatics Europe (MIE) Conference 2024, with the conference paper titled “Earth Observation and Geoinformatics to Monitoring the Environmental Status of Urban Streams Inextricably Linked to People’s Mental Health” (10.3233/SHTI240716).
- In October 2024, HL7 represented the OneAquaHealth project at the 5th International Conference on Environmental Design and Health (ICED) with a presentation titled “Monitoring the healthy status of urban streams” ( https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202458509002).
2025
- In February 2025, researchers from HL7 Europe and the Hellenic Mediterranean University presented the case of Aquatic Ecosystem Monitoring in Heraklion, Crete (Greece) in a poster presentation at the HL7 Working Group Meeting 2025 in Lisbon (https://www.oneaquahealth.eu/2025/03/03/cretes-aquatic-ecosystem-monitoring-case-study-presentation/).
- In April 2025, the research team of HL7 Europe and the Hellenic Mediterranean University published the paper titled “From Space to Stream: Combining Remote Sensing and In Situ Techniques for Comprehensive Stream Health Assessment” ( https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17091532).
HL7 Europe’s involvement in the project is strong. Their active engagement in the form of publications, presentations, and workshops on various platforms indicates a sustained commitment. Given the shared goals of the project and the organization, it seems that the prospects for HL7’s future involvement appear promising, with the potential for further contributions to the intersection of health informatics, environmental monitoring, and public health.