Participants from more than 48 countries have gathered in a series of workshops to discuss future One Health research priorities to inform research that will benefit people, animals, plants and the environment.
One Health is a multi-sectoral approach aimed to optimize the health of humans, livestock, plants, and the ecosystems they share.
“The interdependencies between these different disciplines of health have historically been under-recognized and under-researched,” said Dr Dannie Romney, Senior Global Director of Development Communication and Extension at CABI. “COVID highlighted the importance of One Health approaches. Now we want to identify the research priorities going forward.”
Dr Romney leads the One Health Hub, a knowledge and learning platform that promotes a cross-sectoral one health approach in sustainable development. The project – managed by CABI with funding from UK International Development from the UK government – works with organizations to collate evidence, identify knowledge gaps and help shape policies.
“We want to better understand the interdependencies between human, animal, plant, and environmental health. The first step is to identify future research needs so they can be addressed.”
Dr Romney’s team turned to its key partner, the Juno Evidence Alliance, for expertise on research.
Dr Sini Savilaakso, Research Lead, Juno Evidence Alliance, said: “Juno works to ensure better evidence drives better decisions to solve global challenges. Together with the One Health Hub, we have identified the need to better understand current research areas and future priorities.”
“This gave us the idea for the One Health Horizon Scanning project to address global One Health challenges,” she said. “These challenges range from climate change and food security, to emerging diseases and antimicrobial resistance.”
“It is important that decision-makers have high-quality evidence so they can make informed choices,” added Dr Savilaakso from Juno Evidence Alliance, co-founded by CABI and Havos.ai and funded by UK International Development and the Gates Foundation.
Workshops identify and prioritize research questions
The workshops, which took place as part of the One Health Horizon Scanning project funded by UK International Development from the UK government, focused on identifying and prioritizing research questions to drive future action on global health.
Juno partnered with Oxford Systematic Reviews LLP (OXSREV) to conduct the horizon scanning and facilitate the sessions. Prior to the workshops, OXSREV used advanced language models to cluster around 900 questions – collated via a global survey – into nine thematic areas including antimicrobial resistance, zoonotic diseases, food security, and climate change. During the sessions, participants discussed the research questions and shortlisted priority questions for further exploration.
The workshops began in February in Putrajaya, Malaysia, followed by two online sessions with participants from Europe and the Americas, and concluded in Nairobi, Kenya in March.
Next steps for One Health Horizon Scanning
The One Health Horizon Scanning activity has three objectives. First, it identifies emerging risks and opportunities in One Health research. Second, it detects early signals of change to help researchers and policymakers prepare for the future. Third, it provides insights to guide research, policy and investments.
Sini Savilaakso, Research Lead at Juno Evidence Alliance, highlighted the importance of the work thus far: “Collaboration across sectors and disciplines is key to addressing One Health challenges. The workshops brought together people working on One Health to refine research questions that will drive meaningful action. By prioritizing research questions, we are laying the foundation for actionable solutions to future One Health issues.”
Following the first Horizon Scanning survey and the global workshops, the next phase of the project will see a second survey inviting respondents to further prioritize the research questions based on their perceived importance. (The survey is now live and input may be provided here.)
The results of the One Health Horizon Scanning project will contribute to a roadmap and a research paper to be published later in 2025.
More information
Main image: Participants at the workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. The workshop series focused on identifying and prioritizing One Health research questions to drive future action on global health. Photo credit: Dr William J. Harvey, OXSREV
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