Added value and impact of participating in a COST Action

Dr Barbara HäslerCOST Action TD1404Royal Veterinary College and Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health

• Introduction and background

• Aim and objectives

• Foreseen scientific, technological, and socio-economic impacts

• Management structure

• Networking and its added value

• COST support

• Personal experience as Action chair

Outline

TD1404• http://neoh.onehealthglobal.net/• http://www.cost.eu/COST_Actions/tdp/TD1404

The Network for Evaluation of One Health

• Malnutrition & food safety• Double burden of malnutrition; food systems that deliver the

wrong diets

• Emerging zoonotic diseases• Boom in global demand for animal products creates new risks

• Endemic infectious disease, zoonoses and antimicrobial resistance• Greatest human and animal health burden

• Food production under environmental change• Livestock production as a major contributor to greenhouse gas

emissions

The challenges

A paradigm that addresses complex challenges to promote the health and well-being of all species and the

environment through the integration of relevant sciences at systems level.

Can it provide solutions?

One Health

• One Health intuitively appealing

• Multiple benefits and added value perceived and described

What’s lacking• Not mainstream (yet)• No systematic resource allocation

What’s needed• Standardised methods, approaches and data to evaluate One Health activities• Robust evidence base for informed decision-making and resource allocation

The dilemma

To enable future quantitative and qualitative evaluations of One Health activities and to further the evidence base by

developing and applying a science-based evaluation protocol in a community of experts

In short: To develop and use methods and frameworks for improved One Health decision making

Our aim

1. To develop a robust and standardised evaluation approach (WG1)

2. To evaluate existing One Health initiatives (WG2 and WG3)

3. To involve decision-makers in network activities (WG4)4. To create the interdisciplinary network required to

address the evaluation of One Health (cross-cutting)

Objectives

Our approachFramework

Index

Protocol

Assess frameworksIdentify metricsDefine approach

Inputs to One HealthOutput measures

Methods, data, analysis and reporting

Case studies

Meta-analysis

HandbookConferencePublication

Stakeholder engagement, dissemination and policy (WG4)

c c c c c c c c c c c c

0 4813 26

WG1 WG2 WG3

c

Draft

handbook

Feedback

Feedback

• Scientific progress: Evaluation methodology, new evidence

• Policy: Increase in acceptance and uptake of the evaluation approach; improved decision-making and resource allocation

• Health: More successful disease mitigation programmes; better animal, human and environmental health

• Knowledge: Exchange, sharing and learning in the One Health community; pool of early-stage researchers trained in performing evaluations of One Health

Impact

• >180 members• 30 countries

NEOH members and associates

MC Chair MC Vice Chair

WG1 Leader WG4 LeaderWG3 LeaderWG2 Leader

Core Group (CG)

Management Committee (MC)

WG 1 WG 2 WG 3 WG 4

COC*

STSM Committee

Editorial Board (EB)

Webmaster (WM)

Up to two representatives of each participating COST Country

External reviewsCOST National Coordinators

of COST Countries

Stakeh

old

er Co

mm

un

ication

Nominate MC Members Scientific quality control

EB LeaderSTSM Leader

*COC = conference organisation committee

NEOH structure

Internal communication: Regular updates, time schedule, progress monitoring, achievements, reporting, conference calls/skype

PAHO/WHOILRICDC

Academic networks

Government agenciesIndustry

EU bodiesNGOsSMEs

Inception workshop

ACTION PLAN

EOH expertise and use

Meetings: MC meetings, WG meetings, STSMs, NEOH workshops, NEOH conference, training schools, best practice workshops

NEOH

Website, disseminate outputs, communicate

Engage existing networks

NEOH communication, networking dissemination

• 3 full MC meetings• 2 core group meetings• 6 WG meetings and workshops• 2 training schools• 12 short-term scientific missions

Our meetings

One Health – key characteristicsThe promise

The approach

• Funding!!• Provision and maintenance of the e-COST system• Guidance (e.g. Vademecum)• IT support• Information• Constant and continuous direct support

COST support

Ms AranzazuSanchez

Dr Mafalda Quintas

Barbara HäslerCOST Action TD1404 Royal Veterinary College and Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health

bhaesler@rvc.ac.uk

Thank you for your attention!