A feasibility study for the establishment of a national wildlife health centre in Sri Lanka

Valeix, Sophie; Lokugalappatti, Loku Galappattige Sampath; Abeynayake, P.; Prasad, Tharaka; Chandrasiri, A.; Daniel, Samson L.A.; Stephen, Craig; Leighton, Frederick A.

doi:10.20506/rst.30.3.2068

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Because One Health emphasizes finding practical solutions, partnerships should include decision makers, practitioners, and communities in the full range of activities, from setting priorities to implementing solution. This approach was followed when establishing the Sri Lanka Wildlife Health Centre [11] . The historical approach where various disciplinary experts work on different aspects of an issue in isolation, with little communication amongst information producers and those who will use and benefit from the information, is ill suited to One Health.…”

Section: Partner and Stakeholder Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leadership, governance and partnerships are essential One Health competencies

Stephen

Stemshorn

2016

One Health

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One Health is held as an approach to solve health problems in this era of complexity and globalization, but inadequate attention has been paid to the competencies required to build successful teams and programs. Most of the discussion on developing One Health teams focuses on creating cross-disciplinary awareness and technical skills. There is, however, evidence that collaborative, multi-disciplinary teams need skills, processes and institutions that enable policy and operations to be co-managed and co-delivered across jurisdictions. We propose that competencies in leadership and human resources; governance and infrastructure; and partnership and stakeholder engagement are essential, but often overlooked One Health attributes. Competencies in these staple attributes of leadership and management need to be more prominent in training and One Health capacity development. Although One Health has been in existence for over a decade, there has been no systematic evaluation of the essential attributes of successful and sustainable One Health programs. As such, much of this paper borrows from experience in other sectors dealing with complex, cross and inter-sectoral problems. Our objective is to advocate for increased investment in One Health leadership, governance and partnership skills to balance the focus on creating cross-disciplinary awareness and technical proficiency in order to maintain One Health as a viable approach to health issues at the human-animal-environment interface.

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Section: Partner and Stakeholder Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leadership, governance and partnerships are essential One Health competencies

Stephen

Stemshorn

2016

One Health

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“…This paper reports the results of an empirical study to understand and enhance a critical dimension of implementing One Health – institutional collaboration and information sharing about zoonoses – in one country – Sri Lanka – as part of that nation's efforts to strengthen its zoonotic disease surveillance capacity. Sri Lanka is densely populated island country in the Indian Ocean, ranked in the top 25 countries worldwide for biodiversity (Wildlife Sri Lanka, 2010; Valeix et al, 2011). Sri Lanka continues to be challenged with a variety of wildlife‐associated diseases of socio‐economic importance, including leptospirosis, rabies, foot‐and‐mouth disease and bovine tuberculosis (Valeix et al, 2011; Hettiarachchi et al, 2013; Gamage et al, 2014; Costa et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sri Lanka is densely populated island country in the Indian Ocean, ranked in the top 25 countries worldwide for biodiversity (Wildlife Sri Lanka, 2010; Valeix et al, 2011). Sri Lanka continues to be challenged with a variety of wildlife‐associated diseases of socio‐economic importance, including leptospirosis, rabies, foot‐and‐mouth disease and bovine tuberculosis (Valeix et al, 2011; Hettiarachchi et al, 2013; Gamage et al, 2014; Costa et al, 2015). In 2010, Valeix et al, (2011) conducted a study to determine whether Sri Lanka's capacity for managing wildlife diseases could be improved by creating a national wildlife health centre.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sri Lanka continues to be challenged with a variety of wildlife‐associated diseases of socio‐economic importance, including leptospirosis, rabies, foot‐and‐mouth disease and bovine tuberculosis (Valeix et al, 2011; Hettiarachchi et al, 2013; Gamage et al, 2014; Costa et al, 2015). In 2010, Valeix et al, (2011) conducted a study to determine whether Sri Lanka's capacity for managing wildlife diseases could be improved by creating a national wildlife health centre. They determined that since Sri Lanka is also at high risk for disease emergence, investment in an early‐detection model for zoonotic pathogens urgently needs developing at a national level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They determined that since Sri Lanka is also at high risk for disease emergence, investment in an early-detection model for zoonotic pathogens urgently needs developing at a national level. Sri Lankan officials from the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), Department of Animal Production and Health (DAPH) and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (FVMAS) at the University of Peradeniya have recognized that capacity for both wildlife disease management and surveillance needs to be enhanced (Valeix et al, 2011). In 2011, the Sri Lankan officials partnered with the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative (CWHC) for a project grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Enhancing inter‐organizational collaboration for wildlife disease surveillance in Sri Lanka

Kolla

Lokugalappatti

Clark

et al. 2022

Zoonoses and Public Health

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Management of zoonotic infectious diseases is an urgent global heath imperative. Interdisciplinary approaches for zoonosis management exist in literature, but collaboratively implementing them is a pervasive challenge. The Sri Lanka Wildlife Health Centre (SLWHC) was created in 2011 to coordinate wildlife disease surveillance and response among government agencies. We interviewed SLWHC‐affiliated personnel about existing communication and collaboration channels to identify operational needs as well as potential enhancements for the SLWHC's operations. We used the Policy Sciences' analytical framework to identify opportunities and challenges for the SLWHC. Study participants held both human and animal health as the utmost priorities. However, their observations indicate that inter‐organizational communication barriers and intra‐organizational hierarchies still need to be overcome for the Centre's partnering organizations to collaborate to their fullest potential. Any interventions to enhance the SLWHC's collaborative capacity for detecting and managing zoonotic disease outbreaks could be strengthened by appealing to participants' shared value orientations towards enlightenment and respect. A common interest was the desire to collaborate and combine resources, knowledge and personnel to detect, reduce and prevent the incidence of zoonotic disease outbreaks in Sri Lanka. These lessons about institutionalizing communication have considerable relevance for organizational responses to the current SARS‐CoV2 pandemic and other zoonoses.

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Wildlife health capacity enhancement in Thailand through the World Organisation for Animal Health Twinning Program

Suwanpakdee,

Sangkachai,

Wiratsudakul

et al. 2024

Front. Vet. Sci.

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There is an increasing need for robust wildlife health programs that provide surveillance and management for diseases in wildlife and wild aquatic populations to manage associated risks. This paper illustrates the value of a systematic method to enhancing wildlife health programs. The U.S. Geological Survey and Mahidol University, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Thailand National Wildlife Health Center formally twinned under the auspices of the World Organisation for Animal Health to enhance wildlife health capacity in Thailand and the Southeast Asia Region. We used a system-wide approach to holistically and interdependently enhance capacity. The project commenced with a wildlife health program needs assessment, and capacity enhancement focused on strengthening the general wildlife health surveillance network and improving wildlife health information management. Activities included partner surveys, interactive and didactic workshops, and individual personnel training. Topics included development of wildlife health information management systems, analysis of the current surveillance network, development of a Theory of Change for a strengthened surveillance network, planning workshops to create a wildlife health network, training on wildlife disease outbreak investigation and field sample collection, leading networks, and individual training on bioinformatics and laboratory techniques. Engagement of stakeholders at all levels, continuous communication throughout the project, use of both strategic planning tools and pedagogical methods, and using iterative and adaptive approaches, were key factors to the success of this project.

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A feasibility study for the establishment of a national wildlife health centre in Sri Lanka

Cited by 3 publications

References 10 publications

Leadership, governance and partnerships are essential One Health competencies

Leadership, governance and partnerships are essential One Health competencies

Enhancing inter‐organizational collaboration for wildlife disease surveillance in Sri Lanka

Wildlife health capacity enhancement in Thailand through the World Organisation for Animal Health Twinning Program

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