Welcome to the web page for our international symposium, ‘One Health for the Real World: zoonoses, ecosystems and wellbeing’, which took place at the Zoological Society of London, 17-18 March 2016.

Co-organised by the Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium and the Zoological Society of London with support from the Royal Society, this event brought together leading experts from different fields to discuss ‘healthy ecosystems, healthy people’. New interdisciplinary frameworks for a real-world One Health approach were presented, evidence from field-based settings in Africa and beyond were highlighted and the implications of a One Health approach for policy and practice was debated.

See our Storify on the event

Browse our pictures from the event on flickr

Watch Professor Melissa Leach’s symposium Welcome address

 

PRESENTATIONS

Keynotes

The real world: One Health – zoonoses, ecosystems and wellbeing – Professor Jeremy Farrar, Director Wellcome Trust. View video clip.

The economics of One Health – Dr Delia Grace, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi.

Pre-empting the emergence of zoonoses by understanding their socio-ecology – Dr Peter Daszak, President, EcoHealth Alliance.

Motivation, culture and health in a socio-ecological system in Africa – Professor Bassirou Bonfoh, Director-General, Swiss Centre for Scientific Research (CSRS), Cote d’Ivôire.

Panel 1: Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa – case studies

Human-bat interactions and diseases: transmission risks in Ghana – Professor Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu, University of Ghana. View video clip. View full video.

Irrigation and the risk of Rift Valley fever transmission – a case study from Kenya – Dr Bernard Bett, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi. View video clip. View full video.

Lassa fever case study – Dr Lina Moses, Tulane University. View video clip. View full video.

Tsetse, trypanosomiasis and communities in transition: investigations into health, wellbeing and ecosystem change in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia – Dr Neil Anderson, University of Edinburgh. View video clip. View full video.

Patches, tsetse and livelihoods in the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe – Professor Vupenyu Dzingirai, University of Zimbabwe. View video clip. View full video.

Panel 2: Integrating modelling for understanding zoonoses impacts

Agent-based modelling as an integrative framework for One Health: trypanosomiasis in eastern Zambia – Professor Peter Atkinson, Lancaster University.

A mathematical model for Rift Valley fever transmission dynamics – Dr Bernard Bett, ILRI.

Zika: epidemiology and control – Professor Neil Ferguson, Imperial College London.

A unified framework for the infection dynamics of zoonotic spillover and spread – Dr Gianni Lo Iacono, Public Health England.

Investigating the spatial epidemiology of zoonotic viral haemorrhagic fevers – Dr David Pigott, University of Oxford.

Understanding zoonotic impacts: the added value from One Health approaches – Professor Jakob Zinsstag, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute.

Please note that the presentation by Professor Kate Jones, of University College London, entitled ‘Predictive environmental-epidemiological models for zoonotic diseases’, will be uploaded following publication of the paper on which it is based. 

Panel 3: Ecosystem-poverty-health interactions

A critical social analysis of poverty and zoonotic disease risk – Professor Jo Sharp

The FAO/OIE/WHO Tripartite: an institutional void?  – Dr Jan Slingenbergh

Framing zoonoses: from single diseases to systemic challenges – Professor David Waltner-Toews

Panel 4: Ecosystem change and zoonoses dynamics

One Health for the Real World: partnerships and pragmatism – Professor Sarah Cleaveland

Agricultural intensification and Nipah virus emergence – Dr Jonathan Epstein

Please note that the presentation by Dr David Redding of University College London, entitled ‘Macro-modelling of zoonotic disease under climate and land-use change’, will be uploaded following publication of the paper on which it is based.

Panel 5: Human behaviour and social difference

Beyond risk factors: untangling power and politics in zoonisis control  – Dr Kevin Bardosh

One Health networks – why should we bother? – Professor Victor Galaz

Domestic extensions: the bushmeat ban and the social realities of hunting and consumption – Dr Ann Kelly

Social dimensions of zoonoses in interdisciplinary research – Dr Hayley MacGregor

 

Download the symposium programme

BLOGS

• Migration and changing disease dynamics in the Zambezi Valley by Ian Scoones in the The Zimbabwean
• Land politics and tsetse flies: changing disease landscapes in Zimbabwe by Ian Scoones in The Zimbabwean
• ‘One Health for the Real World’ (or ‘real livestock for real global wellbeing’) by Annie Cook
• Puzzling questions on tackling antibiotic resistance by Erik Millstone
• Research collaboration for global challenges: why it’s really hard by Ian Scoones
• Beyond risk factors, the all-too-human world of zoonotic pandemics by Kevin Bardosh, editor of One Health: science,politics and zoonotic disease in Africa.

 

MEDIA

• Social science essential to fight infectious diseases (pdf). Report published in Research Professional and Research Fortnight.
• Mapping the links between animal, human and eco health. A photo essay on our One Health research by SciDev to mark World Health Day.
• One Health in the Real World. A report on the symposium in Veterinary Record.
• The hidden dangers of irrigation. Bernard Bett from the International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, is interviewed by SciDev’s Imogen Mathers on the trade-offs between food production and disease.
• How to control Rift Valley fever and support people facing meat bans. Salome Bukachi of the University of Nairobi talks to SciDev about the importance of social scientists in health research projects.

 

BOOK

One Health: science, politics and zoonotic disease in Africa, edited by Dr Kevin Bardosh, was launched at the symposium. The books (Routledge, £25.99) offers a political economy analysis of zoonosis research and policy, exploring global narratives about One Health operationalisation and prevailing institutional bottlenecks; the evolution of research networks over time; and the histories and politics behind conflicting disease control approaches.

• Download a flyer from the publisher offering a 20% discount on the book.

Impact case stories

Download the impact case stories from the Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium:

• Ghana: Using learning to balance the benefits with the drawbacks of living alongside bats
• Kenya: One Health working brings widespread Rift Valley fever out of the shadows
• Kenya: Protecting livestock and securing livelihoods during threats of epidemic
• Sierra Leone: How local knowledge collected about one disease helped stem the spread of another
• Zambia: Building trust, sharing learning and seeking solutions with communities in flux
• Zambia: Modelling flies, people and livestock in the struggle against sleeping sickness
• Zimbabwe: Alerting authorities to the reality of tsetse: how talking to locals made a difference
• Zimbabwe: Focused fly elimination campaigns give farmers hope for safe new settlement lands