How can we realise the full potential of animal health systems for delivering development and health outcomes?

Animal health services play an essential role in supporting livestock production, with the potential to address the challenges of hunger, poverty, health, social justice and environmental health as part of the path towards the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) defined in the United Nations, 2030 Agenda. However, the provision of animal health services remains chronically underfunded. Although the aspiration that â€Ëœno one will be left behind' is core to the SDG agenda, animal health service provision still fails to meet the basic needs of many of the poorest livestock owners. This review draws largely on experience from Tanzania and highlights the obstacles to equitable provision of animal health services, as well as identifying opportunities for improvement. Delivery models that rely on owners paying for services, whether through the private sector or public?private partnerships, can be effective for diseases that are of clear economic importance to animal keepers, particularly in more market-orientated production systems, but are currently constrained by issues of access, affordability, availability and quality. Substantial challenges remain when attempting to control diseases that exert a major burden on animal or human health but are less well recognised, as well as in the delivery of veterinary public health or other public good interventions. Here, the authors propose solutions that focus on: improving awareness of the potential for animal health services to address the SDGs, particularly those concerning public and environmental health; linking this more explicitly with advocacy for increased investment; ensuring that the voices of stakeholders are heard, particularly those of the rural poor; and embracing a cross-cutting and expanded vision for animal health services to support more adaptive development of livestock systems.

Les services de santé animale accomplissent une fonction essentielle en faveur de la production animale tout en ayant un potentiel d'action pour relever les défis de la faim, de la pauvreté, de la santé, de la justice sociale et de la santé dans la perspective des objectifs de développement durable (ODD) définis dans l'Agenda 2030 des Nations Unies. Toutefois, la prestation de services de santé animale souffre d'un sous-financement chronique. Bien que l'aspiration de « ne laisser personne pour compte ¼ soit au coeur du programme des ODD, à ce jour la prestation de services de santé animale ne parvient pas encore à répondre aux besoins fondamentaux de nombreux propriétaires de bétail parmi les plus pauvres. Les auteurs s'appuient largement sur l'expérience de la Tanzanie pour mettre en évidence les obstacles à une prestation équitable de services de santé animale, et relever des perspectives d'amélioration. Les modèles de prestation assurés dans le cadre du secteur privé ou de partenariats public-privé et reposant sur le paiement des services par les propriétaires se révèlent efficaces lorsqu'il s'agit de maladies qui ont une importance économique évidente pour les détenteurs d'animaux, en particulier dans les systèmes de production orientés vers le marché, mais ils sont actuellement limités par des problèmes d'accès, de coût, de disponibilité de l'offre et de qualité. Des difficultés encore plus grandes subsistent lorsqu'il s'agit de lutter contre des maladies moins connues bien qu'ayant un impact important sur la santé animale ou humaine, ou d'assurer des services de santé publique vétérinaire ou d'autres interventions relevant du bien public. Les auteurs proposent des solutions centrées sur : une meilleure sensibilisation concernant le potentiel des services de santé animale à réaliser les ODD, en particulier ceux qui portent sur la santé publique et la santé environnementale ; la mise en place de liens plus explicites avec les plaidoyers en faveur d'investissements accrus ; des mesures garantissant que les voix de toutes les parties prenantes soient entendues, en particulier celles des pauvres du monde rural ; l'adoption d'une stratégie transversale et de grande ampleur pour les services de santé animale en faveur d'un développement plus adaptatif des systèmes d'élevage.

Los servicios de sanidad animal cumplen una esencial función de apoyo a la producción ganadera, potencialmente útil para abordar problemas relacionados con el hambre, la pobreza, la salud, la justicia social y la salud ambiental como parte del camino hacia los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) marcados en la Agenda 2030 de las Naciones Unidas. Sin embargo, la prestación de servicios zoosanitarios está lastrada por un déficit crónico de financiación. Aunque en la base misma de los ODS late la aspiración de «no dejar a nadie atrás¼, la prestación estos servicios aún no alcanza para responder a las necesidades básicas de muchos de los propietarios de ganado más pobres. Los autores, basándose principalmente en la experiencia de Tanzania, destacan los obstáculos que dificultan una prestación equitativa de servicios zoosanitarios y señalan las posibilidades existentes para progresar al respecto. Los modelos de prestación que requieren que el propietario pague por los servicios recibidos, ya sea del sector privado o de alianzas publicoprivadas, pueden resultar eficaces en el caso de enfermedades que revisten una clara importancia económica para los productores, especialmente en sistemas productivos con una marcada orientación comercial, aunque actualmente se ven lastrados por problemas de acceso, asequibilidad, disponibilidad y calidad. Por otro lado, subsisten dificultades de gran calado a la hora de combatir enfermedades menos reconocidas, aunque estas entrañen una pesada carga sanitaria o zoosanitaria, y también a la hora de implantar medidas de salud pública veterinaria u otras intervenciones de interés público. Los autores proponen soluciones centradas en: dar mejor a conocer el potencial que encierran los servicios de sanidad animal para perseguir los ODS, sobre todo los relacionados con la salud pública y ambiental; vincular más explícitamente esto último a la labor de sensibilización para lograr inversiones más cuantiosas; hacer oír la voz de todos los interesados, en especial la de los pobres de zonas rurales; y adoptar una visión más amplia y transversal de los servicios zoosanitarios para favorecer un desarrollo más flexible de los sistemas ganaderos.

Pastoral production is associated with increased peste des petits ruminants seroprevalence in northern Tanzania across sheep, goats and cattle.

Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) causes a contagious disease of high morbidity and mortality in small ruminant populations globally. Using cross-sectional serosurvey data collected in 2016, our study investigated PPRV seroprevalence and risk factors among sheep, goats and cattle in 20 agropastoral (AP) and pastoral (P) villages in northern Tanzania. Overall observed seroprevalence was 21.1% (95% exact confidence interval (CI) 20.1-22.0) with 5.8% seroprevalence among agropastoral (95% CI 5.0-6.7) and 30.7% among pastoral villages (95% CI 29.3-32.0). Seropositivity varied significantly by management (production) system. Our study applied the catalytic framework to estimate the force of infection. The associated reproductive numbers (R0) were estimated at 1.36 (95% CI 1.32-1.39), 1.40 (95% CI 1.37-1.44) and 1.13 (95% CI 1.11-1.14) for sheep, goats and cattle, respectively. For sheep and goats, these R0 values are likely underestimates due to infection-associated mortality. Spatial heterogeneity in risk among pairs of species across 20 villages was significantly positively correlated (R2: 0.59-0.69), suggesting either cross-species transmission or common, external risk factors affecting all species. The non-negligible seroconversion in cattle may represent spillover or cattle-to-cattle transmission and must be investigated further to understand the role of cattle in PPRV transmission ahead of upcoming eradication efforts.

One Health contributions towards more effective and equitable approaches to health in low- and middle-income countries.

Emerging zoonoses with pandemic potential are a stated priority for the global health security agenda, but endemic zoonoses also have a major societal impact in low-resource settings. Although many endemic zoonoses can be treated, timely diagnosis and appropriate clinical management of human cases is often challenging. Preventive 'One Health' interventions, e.g. interventions in animal populations that generate human health benefits, may provide a useful approach to overcoming some of these challenges. Effective strategies, such as animal vaccination, already exist for the prevention, control and elimination of many endemic zoonoses, including rabies, and several livestock zoonoses (e.g. brucellosis, leptospirosis, Q fever) that are important causes of human febrile illness and livestock productivity losses in low- and middle-income countries. We make the case that, for these diseases, One Health interventions have the potential to be more effective and generate more equitable benefits for human health and livelihoods, particularly in rural areas, than approaches that rely exclusively on treatment of human cases. We hypothesize that applying One Health interventions to tackle these health challenges will help to build trust, community engagement and cross-sectoral collaboration, which will in turn strengthen the capacity of fragile health systems to respond to the threat of emerging zoonoses and other future health challenges. One Health interventions thus have the potential to align the ongoing needs of disadvantaged communities with the concerns of the broader global community, providing a pragmatic and equitable approach to meeting the global goals for sustainable development and supporting the global health security agenda.This article is part of the themed issue 'One Health for a changing world: zoonoses, ecosystems and human well-being'.