Co-production of knowledge as part of a OneHealth approach to better control zoonotic diseases

Abstract

There is increased global and national attention on the need for effective strategies to control zoonotic diseases. Quick, effective action is, however, hampered by poor evidence-bases and limited coordination between stakeholders from relevant sectors such as public and animal health, wildlife and forestry sectors at different scales, who may not usually work together. The OneHealth approach recognises the value of cross-sectoral evaluation of human, animal and environmental health questions in an integrated, holistic and transdisciplinary manner to reduce disease impacts and/or mitigate risks. Co-production of knowledge is also widely advocated to improve the quality and acceptability of decision-making across sectors and may be particularly important when it comes to zoonoses. This paper brings together OneHealth and knowledge co-production and reflects on lessons learned for future OneHealth co-production processes by describing a process implemented to understand spill-over and identify disease control and mitigation strategies for a zoonotic disease in Southern India (Kyasanur Forest Disease). The co-production process aimed to develop a joint decision-support tool with stakeholders, and we complemented our approach with a simple retrospective theory of change on researcher expectations of the system-level outcomes of the co-production process. Our results highlight that while co-production in OneHealth is a difficult and resource intensive process, requiring regular iterative adjustments and flexibility, the beneficial outcomes justify its adoption. A key future aim should be to improve and evaluate the degree of inter-sectoral collaboration required to achieve the aims of OneHealth. We conclude by providing guidelines based on our experience to help funders and decision-makers support future co-production processes.

Land system governance shapes tick-related public and animal health risks

“…The socio-ecological mechanisms that have rendered diverse social groups vulnerable to varying degrees to KFD in degraded, multi-use forest landscape mosaics of the Western Ghats have been studied through co-located social and ecological surveys, landscape analysis and epidemiological modelling along forest-agriculture gradients (Asaaga et al, 2021 , 2023 ; Purse et al, 2023 ). Within this land system, vulnerability depends not only on variable tick hazard between different habitats in the mosaic but also on livelihood practices and priorities that influence exposure across these habitat types as well as the geographical and social marginalisation of these communities (Asaaga et al, 2022 , 2023 ).…”

“…This means that land management to minimize health risk can only be one amongst several objectives. Moreover, exposure and adaptation may be linked to diverse livelihood priorities associated with land use (Asaaga et al, 2022 ). Because land serves multiple purposes which may or may not constitute priorities for various stakeholders, trade-offs are often inevitable in land use decisions.…”

“…This means that land management to minimize health risk can only be one amongst several objectives. Moreover, exposure and adaptation may be linked to diverse livelihood priorities associated with land use (Asaaga et al, 2022 ).…”

Using mechanistic models to highlight research priorities for tick-borne zoonotic diseases: Improving our understanding of the ecology and maintenance of Kyasanur Forest Disease in India

“…Models have a key role to play in predicting the variable impact of hosts and vectors on disease dynamics and infection risk across human-animal-environment interfaces and rapidly changing landscapes [ 4 , 15 ] but need to be contextualised carefully to local empirical data availability and knowledge needs for the disease interventions [ 34 ]. Models are particularly critical for understanding tick-borne disease systems (TBDs), in which ticks take one blood meal per life stage and may feed on and transmit infection to different vertebrate hosts at different life stages (larva, nymph and adult) via different routes of transmission.…”

Using mechanistic models to highlight research priorities for tick-borne zoonotic diseases: Improving our understanding of the ecology and maintenance of Kyasanur Forest Disease in India

“…Models have a key role to play in predicting the variable impact of hosts and vectors on disease dynamics and infection risk across human-animal-environment interfaces and rapidly changing landscapes (Roberts et al 2021; Webster et al 2016) but need to be contextualised carefully to local empirical data availability and knowledge needs for the disease interventions (Asaaga et al, 2022). Models are particularly critical for understanding tick-borne disease systems (TBDs), in which ticks may feed on and transmit infection to different vertebrate hosts at different life stages via different routes of transmission.…”