24
Jan

The disturbance of ecosystems favors the rise of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs), which may turn into pandemics. Preventing a pandemic may not be possible; being prepared and adapted are the keys. One Health is an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals, and ecosystems (WHO). It is a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach working at the local, national, regional, and global levels. The emergence of the Nipah virus outbreak in Malaysia in 1998 was an example of the effect of the disturbance of the ecosystems from deforestation and land use change that sped up the spillover of the virus from bats to pigs and transmitted it to humans. The One Health approach for Nipah virus surveillance has been implemented in Thailand for two decades among government sectors and researchers in the country and internationally as part of preparedness and adaptation. A multi-agency global EID network has been set up to deal with the increasing threat of EIDs from climate change and disrupted ecosystems, such as the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threat Program (2010-2019) and NIH Center for Research on Emerging Infectious Diseases (CREID). CREID program is currently implemented in many hot-spot countries in Asia and Africa. Vector-borne and endemic zoonotic diseases, and  EIDs affected by ecosystem imbalance, such as Rift Valley Fever, Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, novel coronavirus, paramyxovirus, filovirus, and Diseases X, are focused studies on building the in-country capacity for early detection and characterization.  Strengthening One Health implementation at a multi-level network, such as the Thailand One Health Coordination Unit at the national level and the Chula School of Global Health at the Academic level, is the primary key to addressing ecosystem change and pandemic emergence jointly.