ecohealth in southeast asia: past, present and ways forward
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by H. Nguyen-Viet, J. Gilbert, Dinh Xuan Tung, H. Mallee, F. Unger and D. Grace presented at the 10-year anniversary of the Veterinary Public Health Center for Asian Pacific conference, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 2-6 July 2013.TRANSCRIPT
Nguyen Viet Hung1,2, Jeff Gilbert2, Dinh Xuan Tung3, Hein Mallee4, Fred Unger2, Delia Grace2 1CENPHER, Hanoi School of Public Health, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, Kenya 3Nantional Institute of Animal Sciences, Hanoi, Vietnam, 3Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan
EcoHealth is a good approach to deal with complex problems of health and environment. Further incentive based application at all levels are need to promote the use of EcoHealth.
EcoHealth research in South East Asia: past, present, and ways forward
EcoHealth is a comprehensive and integrative conceptualisation of health as an outcome of the complex relation of human, animal and environment systems. Although it was only introduced in South East Asia (SEA) in the 2000’s by IDRC, its development in the region shows a dynamic evolution in research and widening application to various fields such as emerging and zoonotic diseases, agriculture and health, and, education and training. We review ecohealth activities in SEA over the last 10 years to capture the lessons learned and challenges as well as evaluating the future of Ecohealth in the region.
Conclusion
Methods
Center for Public Health and Ecosystem Research (CENPHER), Hanoi School of Public Health 138 Giang Vo, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, Vietnam, T: (+84) 4.62733162, F: (+84) 4.62733172
E: [email protected]; W: http://cenpher.hsph.edu.vn
The results showed that generally, EcoHealth has been well perceived and taken up by partners, in particular academia, policy makers and communities and it has generated some good research results in the field of zoonotic and emerging diseases. Some projects focused purely on capacity, others on research or both.
Main ecohealth project in South East Asia
1. We analysed all the EcoHealth programmes, initiatives and projects (now called projects) that have been being implemented in the past 10 years with support of IDRC in SEA.
APEIR: Asian Partnership on Emerging Infectious Diseases Research BECA: Building Capacity in Ecohealth for SEA EcoEID: Ecohealth Emerging Infectious Diseases Research in SEA EcoZD: Ecosystem Approaches to the Better Management of Zoonotic
Emerging Infectious Diseases in SEA FBLI: Field Building Leadership Initiative in SEA
EcoEID
2. The level of EcoHealth characterised by how much “ecohealth content” was analysed using main principles of ecohealth published by Charron (2011).
Results
However, challenges remain at the project design and implementation level but also on the available capacity and coordination to develop EcoHealth research and teams in the countries as well as the issue of scaling-up.
Ecohealth course jointly held by EcoZD and FBLI in Hanoi, May 2013
FBLI fieldwork in Hanam, December 2012
The way forward from a regional perspective Research: more integrated and practically oriented case studies of EcoHealth are needed. Training: degree training and short course in Ecohealth to expand knowledge to mainstream practitioners. Policy translation: sensitize policy makers to EcoHealth and good advocacy to apply EcoHealth
Main pillars of Ecohealth