Using coffee husks as waste material for bedding contributes to sustainable development. A sustainable choice of bedding has also, however, to be a safe choice for poultry. The study analysed immune-related gene expression in the intestinal mucosa and indicator bacteria in caecal content collected from broiler chickens bedded on material with coffee husk addition.

No abstract available.

Africa has the highest burden of infectious diseases in the world and yet the least capacity for its risk management. It has therefore become increasingly important to search for ‘fit-for- purpose’ approaches to infectious disease surveillance and thereby targeted disease control. The fact that the majority of human infectious diseases are originally of animal origin means we have to consider One Health (OH) approaches which require inter-sectoral collaboration for custom-made infectious disease surveillance in the endemic settings of Africa. A baseline survey was conducted to assess the current status and performance of human and animal health surveillance systems and subsequently a strategy towards OH surveillance system was developed. The strategy focused on assessing the combination of participatory epidemiological approaches and the deployment of mobile technologies to enhance the effectiveness of disease alerts and surveillance at the point of occurrence, which often lies in remote areas. We selected three study sites, namely the Ngorongoro, Kagera River basin and Zambezi River basin ecosystems. We have piloted and introduced the next-generation Android mobile phones running the EpiCollect application developed by Imperial College to aid geo-spatial and clinical data capture and transmission of this data from the field to the remote Information Technology (IT) servers at the research hubs for storage, analysis, feedback and reporting. We expect that the combination of participatory epidemiology and technology will significantly improve OH disease surveillance in southern Africa.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the death of 7.1 million people worldwide as of 7 July 2024. In Nigeria, the first confirmed case was reported on 27 February 2020, subsequently followed by a nationwide spread of SARS-CoV-2 with morbidity and mortality reaching 267 173 and 3155, respectively, as of 7 July 2024. At the beginning of the pandemic, only a few public health laboratories in Nigeria had the capacity for SARS-CoV-2 molecular diagnosis. The National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), already experienced in influenza diagnosis, responded to the public health challenge for the diagnosis of COVID-19 samples from humans. The feat was possible through the collective utilisation of NVRI human and material resources, including biosafety facilities, equipment, reagents and consumables donated by international partners and collaborators. Within 6 months of the reported COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria, over 33 000 samples were processed in NVRI facilities covering five states. Thereafter, many field and laboratory projects were jointly implemented between NVRI and collaborating sectors including the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), which brought together professionals in the health, veterinary, education and socio-sciences. In addition, One Health grants were secured to enhance surveillance for coronavirus and other zoonoses and build capacity in genomics. Bio-surveillance for coronaviruses and other emerging zoonotic pathogens at the human–animal interface was activated and continued with sample collection and analysis in the laboratory for coronaviruses, Lassa fever virus and Mpox. One Health approach has shown that inter-sectoral and multinational collaboration for diagnosis, research and development in animals, and the environment to better understand pathogen spillover events at the human–animal interface is an important global health priority and pandemic preparedness.

Antimicrobial (AM) resistance is a growing threat in human and veterinary medicine, spreading across species and perceived as One-Health issue. Prudent use of AM products is essential in mitigating this risk in both human and veterinary medicine. Farm veterinarians, responsible for prescribing appropriate AM and offering advice to farmers on their proper usage, are regarded as key players in the livestock industry. An online survey of farm veterinarians (n = 1,531) was conducted to assess their educational experience, beliefs, current status of prescription, practical behavior, and self-efficacy regarding the prudent use of antimicrobials (PUA). The data from 170 respondents were analyzed using descriptive statistics, regression and mediation analysis. Participants chose AM based on their experiences, academic resources, and peer veterinarians. Approximately 77% did not routinely conduct antibiotic-susceptibility-test. Most participants believed in the importance of PUA and the role of veterinarians to reduce AM resistance, but they reported a lack of awareness among farmers and insufficient national support interfere with their practical behavior with regard to PUA. Half of the participants had PUA-education, and 78.6% reported that education had a positive impact on their behavior with PUA. Self-efficacy partly mediates the relationship between belief and behavior for PUA, which accounted for 23.77% of the total effect that beliefs have on behavior for PUA. The findings of the study show that enhancing veterinarians’ abilities to practice and their self-efficacy through education tailored to the current status of farms can contribute to the reduction of AMs in the livestock sector.

Advocacy for neglected zoonotic diseases (ADVANZ) is a One Health Neglected Zoonotic Diseases (NZDs) project, funded by the European Commission through its 7th framework programme. The initiative aims at persuading decision makers and empowering stakeholders at local, regional, and international levels towards a coordinated fight against NZDs. ADVANZ is establishing an African platform to share experiences in the prevention and control of NZDs. The platform will compile and package existing knowledge or data on NZDs and generate evidence-based algorithms for improving surveillance and control with the ultimate aim of eliminating and eradicating these diseases. The platform will serve as a forum for African and international stakeholders, as well as existing One Health and NZD networks and harness and consolidate their efforts in the control and prevention of NZDs. The platform had its first meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa in March 2013.

This article outlines a pathway to develop the business case for One Health. It describes the origin and development of One Health and then identifies five potential areas where One Health can add value and reduce costs. These are: (1) sharing health resources between the medical and veterinary sectors; (2) controlling zoonoses in animal reservoirs; (3) early detection and response to emerging diseases; (4) prevention of pandemics; and (5) generating insights and adding value to health research and development. Examples are given for each category along with preliminary estimates of the potential savings from adopting the One Health approach. The literature reviewed suggests that one dollar invested in One Health can generate five dollars worth of benefits and a global investment of US$25 billion over 10 years could generate benefits worth at least US$125 billion. Conservation implications: the time has come to make the bigger case for massive investment in One Health in order to transform the management of neglected and emerging zoonoses and to save the lives of millions of people and hundreds of millions of animals whose production supports and nourishes billions of impoverished people per annum.

Infectious diseases account for nearly 40% of the burden of human mortality and morbidity in low-income countries, of which 7% is attributable to zoonoses and 13% to recently emerging diseases from animals. One of the strategic approaches for effective surveillance, monitoring and control of infectious diseases compromising health in both humans and animals could be through a combination of multiple disciplines. The approach can be achieved through a joint effort from stakeholders comprising health professionals (medical and veterinary), social, economic, agricultural, environmental and other interested parties. With resource scarcity in terms of number of staff, skills and facility in low-income countries, participatory multi- sectoral and multidisciplinary approaches in limiting the burden of zoonotic diseases could be worthwhile. We review challenging issues that may limit the ‘One Health’ approach for infectious diseases surveillance in Tanzania with a focus on Health Policy and how best the human and animal health systems could be complemented or linked to suit the community in need for disease control under the theme’s context.

We first review historic and conceptual background to integrative thinking in medicine. Lacking a general theory of ‘One Health’, we provide an operational definition of ‘One Health’ and its leverage as: any added value in terms of human and animal health, financial savings or environmental benefit from closer cooperation of human and animal health sectors at all levels of organisation. Examples of such added value of ‘One Health’ are given from the fields of health systems, nutrition and zoonoses control in Africa and Asia. ‘One Health’ must become main-stream rather than a new discipline or new association; it should just become normal that practitioners and professionals in the health, animal and environment sectors work together as closely as possible. Current and future challenges in financing clean energy, migration flows, food security and global trade further warrant rethinking of human and animal health services. A conceptual outlook relates health as an outcome of human-environment systems called ‘health in social-ecological systems’. The paper ends with an outlook on the operationalisation of ‘One Health’ and its future potential, specifically also in industrialised countries.

Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System (EIDSS) has been used to strengthen and support monitoring and prevention of dangerous diseases within One Health concept by integrating veterinary and human surveillance, passive and active approaches, case-based records including disease-specific clinical data based on standardised case definitions and aggregated data, laboratory data including sample tracking linked to each case and event with test results and epidemiological investigations. Information was collected and shared in secure way by different means: through the distributed nodes which are continuously synchronised amongst each other, through the web service, through the handheld devices. Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System provided near real time information flow that has been then disseminated to the appropriate organisations in a timely manner. It has been used for comprehensive analysis and visualisation capabilities including real time mapping of case events as these unfold enhancing decision making. Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System facilitated countries to comply with the IHR 2005 requirements through a data transfer module reporting diseases electronically to the World Health Organisation (WHO) data center as well as establish authorised data exchange with other electronic system using Open Architecture approach. Pathogen Asset Control System (PACS) has been used for accounting, management and control of biological agent stocks. Information on samples and strains of any kind throughout their entire lifecycle has been tracked in a comprehensive and flexible solution PACS. Both systems have been used in a combination and individually. Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System and PACS are currently deployed in the Republics of Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan as a part of the Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP) sponsored by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).