One Health and Ecohealth:
A framework for agriculture and health
research and intervention
Hung Nguyen, Fred Unger, Jeff Gilbert, Delia Grace
ILRI@40 Livestock and healthy lives workshop
Addis Ababa, 7 November 2014

Complex health problems - need of new approaches
• Complex interaction of disease emergence and
environmental factors
• Needs strong capacity to respond to current and
future challenges of emerging infectious diseases and
other health issues.
• One Health and Ecohealth approaches are more
effective ways to tackle the complexity associated
with emerging infectious diseases than employing a
single disciplinary approach.

Ecohealth
Sick animals
Zoonoses
Ecohealth framework assumes human, livestock, wildlife, and environmental
health are integrally related
6 principles (IDRC, 2012)
1. Systems Thinking
2. Transdisciplinary Research
3. Participation
4. Sustainability
5. Gender and Social Equity
6. Knowledge to Action

http://www.cdc.gov/onehealth
The collaborative efforts of multiple
disciplines working locally, nationally and
globally to attain optimal health for people,
animal and our environment
(FAO, OIE, WHO, WB…)
One Health
“One Health” can be defined as the added value in terms of lives of animals
and humans saved, financial savings and improved ecosystem services from
a closer cooperation of human and animal health as compared to single
sector approaches (Zinsstag et al., 2012)
From theoretical to operational definition:

Integrative approaches
5
Human healthHuman
health
One Medicine
Societies, cultures,
Economies, institutions,
Policies
Agroecosystem health
Animal
Health
.livestock
.wildlife
V P H.
EcoHealth
ONE HEALTH
Incentives
Values
Preferences
Culture
Ignorance
Governance
Rule-breaking

Präsentationstitel 6
Comparative profitability of rabies control in N‘Djaména
Zinsstag et al. (2009) PNAS 106(35):14996-5001
Human vaccination alone
Dog and human vaccination

Synoptic view of benefits and costs of animal brucellosis mass vaccination in
Mongolia (Zinsstag, 2009)
Distribution of Benefits
0
5000000
10000000
15000000
20000000
25000000
30000000
Intervention
cost
Public
health
benefits
Private
health
benefits
Household
income
loss
Total Health
Benefits
Agricultural
Benefits
Total
Societal
Benefits
Sector
US$

Business case for One Health
8
• $25 billion invested would bring
benefits worth $125 billion.
• Zoonotic diseases interventions: $3.7
for every $1.0 invested.
Estimated costs and benefits of One Health investments over a 10-
year period with benefits and costs per year
Delia Grace (2014)

One Health and EcoHealth research at ILRI
Research
– Ecosystem Approaches to the Better Management of Zoonotic Emerging
Infectious Diseases in Southeast Asia (EcoZD): Trans-disciplinary
collaboration between institutions & teams
– Cost-benefit analysis of One Health
– Food safety and One Health
Capacity development
– Ecohealth resource centres: Chiang Mai University (CMU), Thailand and
University of Gadjah Mada (UGM), Indonesia, PHFI in India, CENPHER at
HSPH
– Taskforce for food safety risk assessment
Influencing outcomes and policy

Ecosystem Approaches to the Better Management of
Zoonotic Emerging Infectious Diseases in Southeast Asia
(EcoZD)
 General objective:
Increase the EcoHealth capacity in SE Asia
targeting the risks and impacts of Zoonotic
Emerging Infectious Diseases (ZEIDs)
and how feasible options can be best
implemented
 2008 – 2013
 ‘Learning by Doing’ of EH approach;
also new for ILRI team
 Regional: 6 countries

ILRI EcoZD – 6 country teams & case studies
Thailand/Vietnam: Model of Hygienic Small Scale Poultry Slaughter House
Various institutions, Livestock Services, MoH, Universities, PhD student
Cambodia: Zoonotic Causes of Acute Bloody Diarrhoea in rural Cambodia
4 Institutes (Livestock/AH and Health)
Vietnam: Zoonoses priority ranking at Provinces in Southern Vietnam (Leptospirosis
in pigs and humans), 3 Institutes (PH and livestock)
China (Yunnan): Prevention and Control of Brucellosis & Toxoplasmosis
- 4 Institutions/Universities involved
Indonesia: Study on Rabies Control in Bali (dog ecology and behavior)
4 Institutions/NGO & 1 Universities
Laos: Study of smallholder pig system in lowland and upland
(zoonoses & production diseases), 3 institutions & 1 University

EcoHealth Resource center at Universitas Gadja
Mada (since Jan 2011)
EcoHealth-OneHealth Resource center at
Chiang Mai University
(since Oct 2010)
Eco Health / One Health Resource Centres
Capacity building (EH related courses)
Research (various case studies)
Communication/networking

Food safety risk assessment taskforce in Vietnam
Working group
• Public Health
• Veterinarian
• Policy makers
• Community
Mode of operation
• Training
• Case study
• Policy influence
Taskforce of Risk Assessment for food
safety: linking science to policy to
increase food safety

Challenges of One Health/ Ecohealth
• Institutional challenges: acceptance, policy
engagement
• Integration and transdisciplinarity
• Capacity building: One Health workforce
• Incentives: how to share credits, added
values of One Health
• Sustainability

• INDOHUN
• THOHUN
• VOHUN
• MYOHUN
EcoEID
Emerging Pandemic Threats Program
PREDICT • RESPOND • PREVENT • IDENTIFY
EHRCs
GHI
Modified from Hung Nguyen (2013)
ACIAR
ComAcross

The presentation has a Creative Commons licence. You are free to re-use or distribute this work, provided credit is
given to ILRI.
better lives through livestock
ilri.org
Special thanks to the former EcoZD team and its partners