ILRI gives ‘one health’ training to support pig health project in the Philippines

ILRI Asia

ILRI’s Fred Unger (back row with glasses) and Jackie Escarcha (second left, front row) with the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development team and other participants of an ‘ecohealth’ and ‘one health’ seminar held in Pampanga, Philippines in July 2014 (photo credit: ILRI).

On 30-31 July 2014, Fred Unger, a veterinary epidemiologist and Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM) expert with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), visited the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) project site in Pampanga, Philippines and served as a resource speaker for a ‘seminar on ecohealth and one health: An introduction‘. Unger was accompanied, at the seminar, by Jackie Escarcha from ILRI’s office in Los Banos.

The PCAARRD project, represented by Edwin Villar, the director for livestock division, held the introductory seminar for the project team to gain basic understanding of ‘ecohealth’ and ‘one health’ approaches…

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New ILRI report assesses risk of Ebola in Uganda’s pig value chain

Local breed sow and piglets on a farm in Masaka district, Uganda. A new research report assesses the risk of Ebola in the pig value chain in Uganda. (photo credit: ILRI/Eliza Smith).

Scientists from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) have published a report of a risk assessment to determine the threat of the deadly Ebola virus in the pig value chain in Uganda.

Uganda is currently witnessing a rise in demand for pork and this has led to increased pig production in the country, mostly under smallholder production systems.

These higher pig populations raised under free-range or tethering systems may create overlap of fruit bat habitats where the pigs scavenge for food, thereby presenting a possible risk of Ebola transmission as some bat species have been identified as reservoir hosts of the Ebola virus.

Uganda has experienced outbreaks of Ebola virus disease in the past. However, there are still many unanswered questions on the ecology and mode of transmission of the Ebola virus.

The risk assessment study, based on a systematic review of literature, identified possible routes of transmission of the Ebola virus if pigs are involved, for example, spread between wild and domestic pigs, direct contact between infected pigs and humans, and contact between pigs and fruit bats.

The study recommends more research on the possible role of pigs in Ebolavirus transmission, an area that is not well understood at the moment.

“The present data suggest that pigs may act as amplifying hosts, but likely not reservoir hosts. This suggests the conditions under which pigs become infected with Ebolavirus and the role they play in transmission may have many variables that will have to be elucidated,” the report states.

Further research is underway to investigate the possible role of domestic pigs in the ecology of Ebola virus in Uganda and understand the public health significance of the virus to the pig value chain in this country.

The work includes laboratory diagnostics from a large sample of blood from domestic pigs collected as part of the initial wider value chain disease assessment.

This will be accompanied by a risk mapping study using spatial epidemiology and key informant surveys as well as some participatory techniques with key stakeholders to better understand risk factors and to serve as a ‘ground-truthing’ exercise for the risk map.

It is hoped that this research will lead to further collaborations with other public health organizations and serve as a potential predictive tool in the event of future outbreaks of Ebola in Uganda.

Access the research report here

Citation
Atherstone C, Roesel K and Grace D. 2014. Ebola risk assessment in the pig value chain in Uganda. ILRI Research Report 34. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.

 

ILRI scientists present at international conference on building resilience for food and nutrition security

Delia Grace presenting at a side session on ‘Food safety: Options for addressing a growing crisis’ at IFPRI’s 2020 Conference on ‘Building Resilience for Food and Nutrition Security’ (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan)

On 15-17 May 2014, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) held an international conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on building resilience for food and nutrition security, with over 700 participants in attendance including researchers, policymakers and decision-makers.

Scientists from the Food Safety and Zoonoses program of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) were among the many speakers who presented at parallel sessions and side events.

Delia Grace gave a presentation on food safety in informal markets during a side event on Food safety: Options for addressing a growing crisis. She also spoke on dealing with food safety, nutrition, and public health crises during one of the parallel sessions.

Hung Nguyen-Viet spoke on food-borne diseases and public health shocks in East Asia and the Pacific while Bernard Bett presented on managing impacts from infectious disease outbreaks in dryland areas of East Africa.

More ILRI reports from the conference

Visit the conference website for more information and to access more of the conference resources.

 

New article outlines pathway to develop business case for One Health

Livestock farming in the highlands of Ethiopia (photo credit: ILRI/Apollo Habtamu).

One Health refers to the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines to attain optimal health for people, animals and the environment. Although the usefulness of the One Health approach is widely appreciated, thanks to a growing body of evidence, its uptake remains limited and health management is still largely organized by sector.

How, then, can One Health proponents build a compelling business case for it? A new article published in the Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research (23 April 2014) may be of help; it outlines a pathway to develop the business case for One Health.

It also identifies five key areas where One Health is likely to make a difference. These are:

1. sharing health resources between the medical and veterinary sectors;
2. controlling zoonotic diseases in animal reservoirs;
3. early detection of and response to emerging diseases;
4. prevention of pandemics; and
5. generating insights and adding value to health research and development.

The literature reviewed suggests that every dollar invested in One Health would yield five dollars worth of benefits. Therefore, increased investment in One Health on a large scale has the potential to transform the management of emerging and neglected zoonotic diseases and save the lives of millions of people and animals.

The article is authored by Delia Grace, veterinary epidemiologist and food safety specialist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). She heads ILRI’s research program on food safety and zoonoses as well as the agriculture-associated diseases theme of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH).

Access the article here

Citation
Grace D. 2014. The business case for One Health. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 81(2), 6 pages.

 

 

ILRI publishes three policy briefs on ecohealth approaches to managing zoonoses in Southeast Asia

A live chicken vendor weighs a chicken in Hung Yen province, Vietnam (photo credit: ILRI/Nguyen Ngoc Huyen).

More than 6 out of 10 human infectious diseases are zoonotic (can be passed from animals to people). Southeast Asia is considered one of the hotspot areas for the emergence of zoonotic diseases. The rapid growth of economies and human populations have led to livestock intensification, land use changes and disruption in wildlife habitats, all of which are ideal for the emergence of zoonotic diseases.

From 2008 to 2013, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) led an action research project on zoonotic diseases in six countries in Southeast Asia: Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

Each country team comprised individuals and institutions with knowledge of ecohealth, representing multiple disciplines carrying out research on zoonotic emerging diseases. The project aimed to build ecohealth capacity and learn about the process of adopting the ecohealth approach in the country contexts.

The project has published three new policy briefs that highlight some of the key outcomes on stakeholder engagement processes, raising awareness of zoonotic diseases, and capacity building in One Health and ecohealth in Southeast Asia.

• Engaging stakeholders to manage emerging zoonotic diseases in Southeast Asia
• Increasing awareness of zoonotic diseases among health workers and rural communities in Southeast Asia
• Outcomes in building capacity and strengthening networks: Ecohealth in Southeast Asia

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) funded the project.

Visit the project website for more information

 

Experts explore One Health options for better control of zoonotic diseases in South Asia

Morning milking in Rajasthan, India. Regional experts have called for appropriate One Health approaches to improve the prevention and control of zoonoses and agriculture-associated diseases in South Asia (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan).

On 25 November 2013, a regional multi-stakeholder forum on One Health/Ecohealth, with special emphasis on agriculture-associated diseases, was held in New Delhi, India. The event brought together some 50 high-level representatives from the human, animal and environmental health sectors, including international donors, policymakers, developmental agencies and researchers.

Among the several issues discussed was the need for a centralized body or coordination mechanism to address the prevention and control of zoonotic diseases in the South Asia region. With regard to disease surveillance and reporting, it was felt that in countries like India which follow a ‘top-down’ approach, there is need to also incorporate community-based ‘bottom-up’ surveillance that focuses not just on reporting but also on development.

Several participants drew attention to the need to develop robust estimates on how much zoonotic diseases are currently costing the public and private sectors. In order to be able to convince policymakers to invest in One Health, there is need to provide estimates of the full cost of disease and the cost of different options for reducing it.

One of the suggestions put forward to add value to One Health efforts was to document best practices – with clear pointers to what worked well and what did not – and share these lessons with states and regions who could adapt them to suit their local contexts. This is important as because there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to One Health.

The stakeholder forum was organized by the South Asia office of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and supported by the International Association for Ecology and Health, the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) and the Public Health Foundation of India.

Access the workshop report

 

The next global pandemic: Can we predict it?

Live chicken on sale in Hung Yen province, Vietnam (photo credit: ILRI/Nguyen Ngoc Huyen).

Can we predict the next global pandemic? How can we ensure that we are prepared to tackle the next global disease epidemic?

Ten years after the SARS pandemic, Alok Jha, a science correspondent at The Guardian, examines a new human-animal virus surveillance project in Vietnam as part of his investigation into the possibility of predicting the next global pandemic.

Read his article in The Guardian: A deadly disease could travel at jet speed around the world. How do we stop it in time?

Listen to his science documentary on BBC Radio 4: The Next Global Killer

 

IFPRI launches research briefs on aflatoxins and food safety

Harvested maize in Mozambique. Aflatoxins in maize and other staple crops pose significant public health risks in many developing countries (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann).

Earlier this week, on Tuesday 5 November 2013, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) launched a set of 19 research briefs on managing aflatoxins for improved food safety.

Aflatoxins are naturally occurring carcinogenic by-products of fungi on grains and other crops like maize and groundnuts. They pose a significant threat to public health in many developing countries and are also a barrier to the growth of domestic and international commercial markets for food and feed.

Acute exposure to high levels of aflatoxins can be fatal while chronic exposure to aflatoxins has been linked to liver cancer and is estimated to cause as many as 26,000 deaths annually in sub-Saharan Africa. Aflatoxins have also been linked to stunted growth in children and immune system disorders.

The set of briefs – Aflatoxins: Finding Solutions for Improved Food Safety – provides different perspectives on aflatoxin risks and solutions. The analyses fall under four broad themes:

1. what is known about the health risks from aflatoxins;
2. how to overcome market constraints to improved aflatoxin control by building new market channels and incentives;
3. what is the international policy context for taking action in developing countries; and
4. what is the state of research on new aflatoxin control technologies, including new methods for aflatoxin detection, crop breeding, biological control, food storage and handling, and postharvest mitigation.

The briefs are co-edited by Laurian Unnevehr, senior research fellow at IFPRI and theme leader for value chains for enhanced nutrition in the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), and Delia Grace, veterinary epidemiologist and food safety expert at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and theme leader for agriculture-associated diseases in A4NH.

Access the individual research briefs

Download the full set of research briefs (PDF)

Read more about ILRI’s research projects on aflatoxins:

• Capacity and action for aflatoxin reduction in eastern Africa
• Measuring and mitigating the risk of mycotoxins in maize and dairy products for poor consumers in Kenya

 

Call for abstracts: Global Development Symposium 2014

The Global Development Symposium 2014 takes place on 4–7 May 2014 at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Underscoring the critical links between human and animal health, the symposium will explore interdisciplinary approaches to improving public health and food security while empowering communities for lasting change.

Participants are expected to include social, environmental, medical and veterinary scientists as well as policymakers, students and community members who have an interest in positive global development.

The organizers of the symposium have issued a call for oral, poster and pitch for progress abstracts to be submitted up to 13 January 2014. 

The organizers will also support the travel costs of up to 15 delegates through the International Connections Scholarship supported by Aeroplan. Both professionals and students are encouraged to apply for these awards based on the following criteria:

• Preference will be given to those individuals from a developing nation or the Canadian North
• Demonstrated financial need as articulated through the application process
• If applying as a student, must be a full time student at a recognized college or university (a letter from the Department Chair of your institution must be included in the application submission)

Applications for scholarships will be accepted until 15 November 2013. 

Below are the expanded themes of the symposium

Theme 1: Global public health

• Ecosystem approaches to health
• Translating research to action to policy 
• One Health
• Educating the next generation of leaders
• Domestic, wild and feral animals 
• Crisis Intervention

Theme 2: Food and water security

• Sustaining communities
• Market integration
• Adding value to family agriculture
• Woman and children
• Climate change and health
• Water systems and infrastructure
• Human-animal interactions

Theme 3: Community empowerment

• Outcome assessment: qualitative and quantitative
• Stakeholder consultation, learning and sharing
• Participatory design, research, monitoring and evaluation
• Conservation, biodiversity and natural resource management
• Animals’ role in the community

Visit the symposium website for more information and details of how to register

 

ILRI-supported student successfully defends thesis on Salmonella in pork markets in Vietnam

Sinh Dang Xuan defends his Master of Veterinary Public Health thesis at the Chiang Mai University, Thailand. His research study was co-funded by the ILRI-led project “Ecosystem approaches to the better management of zoonotic emerging infectious diseases in Southeast Asia” (photo credit: ILRI/Fred Unger).

Congratulations are due to Sinh Dang Xuan on the successful defence of his Master of Veterinary Public Health thesis on 9 September 2013 at the Veterinary Public Health Centre for Asia Pacific, Chiang Mai University in Thailand. The course is a joint program of Freie Universität Berlin and Chiang Mai University.

His research study on quantifying Salmonella spp. in pig slaughterhouses and pork markets associated with human health in Hung Yen, Vietnam was co-funded by a project led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) on ecohealth approaches to managing zoonoses in Southeast Asia.

It is one of the first studies carried out in Vietnam combining quantitative and qualitative research methods on ecohealth approaches to food safety in pork value chains.

View the presentation