Feature Papers

This study addresses the tradeoff between Vietnam’s national poultry vaccination program, which implemented an annual two-round HPAI H5N1 vaccination program for the entire geographical area of the Red River Delta during the period from 2005–2010, and an alternative vaccination program which would involve vaccination for every production cycle at the recommended poultry age in high risk areas within the Delta. The ex ante analysis framework was applied to identify the location of areas with high probability of HPAI H5N1 occurrence for the alternative vaccination program by using boosted regression trees (BRT) models, followed by weighted overlay operations. Cost-effectiveness of the vaccination programs was then estimated to measure the tradeoff between the past national poultry vaccination program and the alternative vaccination program. Ex ante analysis showed that the focus areas for the alternative vaccination program included 1137 communes, corresponding to 50.6% of total communes in the Delta, and located primarily in the coastal areas to the east and south of Hanoi. The cost-effectiveness analysis suggested that the alternative vaccination program would have been more successful in reducing the rate of disease occurrence and the total cost of vaccinations, as compared to the national poultry vaccination program. Full article

The merits of One Health have been thoroughly described in the literature, but how One Health operates in the United States federal system of government is rarely discussed or analyzed. Through a comparative case-study approach, this research explores how federalism, bureaucratic behavior, and institutional design in the United States may influence zoonotic disease outbreak detection and reporting, a key One Health activity. Using theoretical and empirical literature, as well as a survey/interview instrument for individuals directly involved in a past zoonotic disease outbreak, the impacts of governance are discussed. As predicted in the theoretical literature, empirical findings suggest that federalism, institutional design, and bureaucracy may play a role in facilitating or impeding zoonotic disease outbreak detection and reporting. Regulatory differences across states as well as compartmentalization of information within agencies may impede disease detection. However, the impact may not always be negative: bureaucracies can also be adaptive; federalism allows states important opportunities for innovation. While acknowledging there are many other factors that also matter in zoonotic disease detection and reporting, this research is one of the first attempts to raise awareness in the literature and stimulate discussion on the intersection of governance and One Health. Full article

One Health is one of the most important movements and emerging concepts in health today. The convergence of the fields of human and animal medicine has the potential to generate novel scientific hypotheses, create effective new therapies and potentially transform how physicians, veterinarians and their patients understand health and disease. Despite this potential, One Health has not yet gained significant awareness or traction in human medical communities. From its inception, One Health, sometimes also called One Medicine, has been piloted primarily by leaders from the world of veterinary medicine. Although the specific term was coined perhaps 10 years ago, comparative medicine has been quietly evident on university campuses with veterinary and medical schools for decades longer. Although a few physicians have played major leadership roles in One Health, in the United States, despite over ten years of the movement’s robust growth, many have still not heard of it. Furthermore, physicians with some awareness of One Health often believe it to be primarily and exclusively about zoonotic infections and global health. The much broader scope and potential of One Health as also including comparative physiology and medicine is not being communicated effectively. Consequently, the human medical community remains largely disengaged. This is problematic because without significant engagement from physicians, nurses and other human health care professionals, the potential of One Health cannot be realized. To advance One Health it is imperative that we first understand the roots of under-engagement of the human medical community. This, in turn, can guide the development of novel and engaging opportunities for physician which demonstrate the power relevance of One Health’s comparative, collaborative and cooperative approach.[...] Full article