Scaling up One Health approaches
Project Details
One Health reflects the interaction between human health, animal health and the environment. It considers the interdependent needs of different populations and sectors of the economy in securing human, animal and environmental wellbeing, and how this is addressed by governance, decision-making processes structures and processes, communication, and actions across institutions and communities. Such an approach is critical to supporting outbreak preparedness, and health security more generally, as many major existing diseases and emerging pathogens arise in animals and/or are compounded by changing agricultural practices and ecosystems.
GMS countries are at high risk for outbreaks of infectious disease, particularly zoonoses, and for transmission across borders, by virtue of their predominantly tropical climates and agroecologies, large rural populations with close, frequent close contact with domestic and wild animals, and consumption of wild animals in some food chains. There is a history of emerging infectious disease (EID) in the GMS region, including SARS and Nipah virus in recent decades, and the current epidemic of COVID-19 is a timely reminder of this risk. The porous borders and close interconnection of the GMS countries further increases the risk of spread and emphasise that regional cooperation is a cornerstone of effective health security.
This project aims to provide technical support to strengthen cooperation in the health sector among countries of the GMS currently being supported through the Strengthening Regional Health Cooperation in the Greater Mekong Subregion project.
Researchers
Dr Angus Campbell - Project Lead
Professor Barbara McPake
Dr Krishna Hort
Kate Gomersall
Max Barot Vibhani
Ms Clare Strachan
Professor Peter Annear
Collaborators
Professor Mark Stevenson
Dr Xuefeng Zhong
Professor Shenglan Tang
Funding
Asian Development Bank
Research Outcomes
Case Studies
Effective risk communications to counter emergence and resurgence of zoonotic diseases