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One-health approaches have started being applied to health systems in some countries in
controlling infectious diseases in order to reduce the burden of disease in humans, livestock
and wild animals collaboratively. However, one wonders whether the problem of lingering
and emerging zoonoses is more affected by health policies, low application of one-health
approaches, or other factors. As part of efforts to answer this question, the Southern African
Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance (SACIDS) smart partnership of human health,
animal health and socio-economic experts published, in April 2011, a conceptual framework to
support One Health research for policy on emerging zoonoses. The main objective of this paper
was to identify which factors really affect the burden of disease and how the burden could
affect socio-economic well-being. Amongst other issues, the review of literature shows that the
occurrence of infectious diseases in humans and animals is driven by many factors, the most
important ones being the causative agents (viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc.) and the mediator
conditions (social, cultural, economic or climatic) which facilitate the infection to occur and
hold. Literature also shows that in many countries there is little collaboration between medical
and veterinary services despite the shared underlying science and the increasing infectious
disease threat. In view of these findings, a research to inform health policy must walk on two
legs: a natural sciences leg and a social sciences one |
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