Society of Hygiene, Environmental and Public Health Sciences

The Gesellschaft für Hygiene, Umweltmedizin und Präventivmedizin (GHUP) — in English, the Society of Hygiene, Environmental and Public Health Sciences — is a German interdisciplinary scientific professional society. According to its statutes, the association is registered as a non-profit eingetragener Verein (e. V.) with its seat in Berlin. It was formed in 2008 through the merger of the Gesellschaft für Hygiene (GHU) and the International Society of Environmental Medicine. Its membership and remit bring together scientists active in hygiene, environmental medicine, preventive medicine, and environmental and public health sciences. The society promotes these fields in research, teaching, initial and continuing education, development and application. Beyond academic work, it also takes on tasks in the area of indirect patient care — in particular hospital hygiene — and prophylaxis. It develops and reviews concepts, disseminates knowledge about them and their application, and contributes to the scientific interpretation of results. Its statutes list scientific conferences, support for publishing, and cooperation with other scientific societies as means of pursuing these goals. It also offers advisory services to sponsors of scientific institutions, research-funding organizations, and policy and societal bodies. GHUP is a member of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Wissenschaftlichen Medizinischen Fachgesellschaften (AWMF), the German association of scientific medical societies. It provides advisory services to scientific institutions, specialist authorities such as the Umweltbundesamt (German Environment Agency) and the Robert Koch-Institut, research-funding organizations, and policy and societal bodies, insofar as scientific aspects of hygiene, environmental medicine, preventive medicine and environmental and public health sciences, academic education and professional training are concerned. The society serves its members with two official scientific journals: Umweltmedizin · Hygiene · Arbeitsmedizin (UHA), an independent German-language scientific journal covering the whole field of environmental medicine, hygiene, occupational medicine and their border areas; and the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health (IJHEH), an English-language, multidisciplinary publication forum for research in hygiene, toxicology, and the fields of environment, work and health. The current issue of UHA cited on the society's website is Volume 31, No. 4, 2026. GHUP's work is organized through seven committees (Ausschüsse) that prepare statements and concepts. The board (Vorstand) consists of seven ordinary members, with a narrower executive board comprising the president and at least two vice-presidents. An advisory council (Beirat) advises the board and the general assembly; its members are appointed by the board and confirmed by the general assembly, and are intended to be drawn from the most important relevant member areas and to be as interdisciplinary and international as possible. The society also organizes and promotes continuing education, such as a modular 100-hour course in environmental medicine following the curriculum "Praktische Umweltmedizin" of the Bundesärztekammer, and co-hosts events such as the Göttinger Forum.

The Gesellschaft für Hygiene, Umweltmedizin und Präventivmedizin (GHUP) was formed in 2008 through the merger of two predecessor organizations: the Gesellschaft für Hygiene (GHU) and the International Society of Environmental Medicine. The merger created a single interdisciplinary scientific society that combines the fields of hygiene, environmental medicine, preventive medicine, and environmental and public health sciences. From its founding, the society has been constituted as a non-profit eingetragener Verein (registered association) under German law, with its seat in Berlin. Its statutes define its purpose as promoting hygiene, environmental medicine, preventive medicine, environmental and public health sciences and adjacent fields in research, teaching, initial and continuing education, development and application. It also takes on tasks in the area of indirect patient care — in particular hospital hygiene — and prophylaxis. To pursue these goals, it develops and reviews concepts, disseminates knowledge about them and their application, and contributes to the scientific interpretation of results. The statutes explicitly name scientific conferences, support for publishing, and cooperation with other scientific societies as instruments for achieving these aims, and the society offers advisory services to sponsors of scientific institutions, research-funding organizations, and policy and societal bodies. GHUP is a member of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Wissenschaftlichen Medizinischen Fachgesellschaften (AWMF), the umbrella organization of German scientific medical societies. It provides advisory services to scientific institutions, specialist authorities such as the Umweltbundesamt (German Environment Agency) and the Robert Koch-Institut, research-funding organizations, and policy and societal bodies, insofar as scientific aspects of hygiene, environmental medicine, preventive medicine and environmental and public health sciences, academic education and professional training are concerned. The society serves its members with two official scientific journals. Umweltmedizin · Hygiene · Arbeitsmedizin (UHA) is an independent German-language scientific journal for the whole field of environmental medicine, hygiene, occupational medicine and their border areas. The International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health (IJHEH) is an English-language, multidisciplinary publication forum for research in hygiene, toxicology, and the fields of environment, work and health. The society's website cites the current issue of UHA as Volume 31, No. 4, 2026. GHUP's substantive work is carried out through seven committees (Ausschüsse), which prepare statements and concepts. The board (Vorstand) consists of seven ordinary members; the narrower executive board comprises the president and at least two vice-presidents. An advisory council (Beirat) advises the board and the general assembly; its members are appointed by the board and confirmed by the general assembly under § 9 (1) No. 3 of the statutes, and are to be drawn from the most important relevant member areas and be as interdisciplinary and international as possible. The society also engages in continuing education, including a modular 100-hour course in environmental medicine following the curriculum "Praktische Umweltmedizin" of the Bundesärztekammer, and co-hosts events such as the Göttinger Forum.

• 2026

  The current issue of the society's journal UHA is Volume 31, No. 4, 2026.

• 2026

  A modular 100-hour environmental medicine continuing education course begins, with Module 1 in early November 2026.

• 2026

  The 24th Göttinger Forum is held on 26–27 November 2026.

• 2008

  GHUP is formed through the merger of the Gesellschaft für Hygiene (GHU) and the International Society of Environmental Medicine.

Interdisciplinary, non-profit scientific medical society and advisory body for hygiene, environmental medicine, preventive medicine and public health sciences in the German-speaking scientific community.

• Umweltmedizin · Hygiene · Arbeitsmedizin (UHA)

  Independent German-language scientific journal for the whole field of environmental medicine, hygiene, occupational medicine and their border areas; an official organ of GHUP.

• International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health (IJHEH)

  English-language, multidisciplinary publication forum for research in hygiene, toxicology, and the fields of environment, work and health; an official organ of GHUP.

• 100-hour environmental medicine continuing education course

  Modular course following the curriculum "Praktische Umweltmedizin" of the Bundesärztekammer, with five modules (two in Waiblingen/Stuttgart, three online).

• Göttinger Forum

  Scientific forum co-hosted with the Niedersächsisches Landesgesundheitsamt and the Institut für Krankenhaushygiene und Infektiologie of the Universitätsmedizin Göttingen.

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