USAID and One Health: Reducing Risks and Conserving Wildlife
Putting a stop to wildlife trafficking and wild animals as food sources can help reduce zoonotic diseases
Since the start of the 21st century, infectious disease outbreaks have increased in both severity and frequency. The vast majority — 75% — of epidemic-prone infectious disease threats originate from animals.
Climate change, land-use change, deforestation, and other drivers lead to increased contact between animals and people, creating new opportunities for viruses to “spillover” from animals to humans.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a vivid reminder of the connection among animals, humans, and the environment, and the effect that an emerging pathogen spilling over into humans can have on people’s health, global economies, and the environment we share.
This interconnection between the health of humans, animals, and ecosystems is why USAID implements the “One Health” approach in its work. “One Health” is an approach that recognizes this interconnection.
Human and animal health professionals are becoming more aware of the value of taking a One Health approach to combat emerging diseases. USAID is reducing the risks of human and wildlife interactions by better understanding the circumstances and interfaces where humans and animals come into close contact, improving natural resource management, reducing unsustainable demand for wild species as food sources, and combating wildlife trafficking.
Some of this work is being done through a new project called Strategies to Prevent Spillover (STOP Spillover). As part of USAID’s Global Health Security Program, STOP Spillover is researching and mitigating the risks posed by known zoonotic diseases that can spillover from animals to humans.
For example, STOP Spillover is working in places considered to be “hot spots” where deadly viruses (such as Ebola, Lassa, Marburg and other deadly viruses) are most likely to “spillover” from wildlife into people (zoonoses).
Spillover events may be more likely where people come into increased contact with wildlife, such as when land use changes divide and diminish forests, and when wildlife is taken for food markets.
STOP Spillover will collaborate with well-established networks of partners to understand where and how spillover occurs. This includes engaging local stakeholders — such as tourist organizations, national parks and rangers, government ministries, and others — from across the One Health spectrum to mitigate spillover in local communities.
Many of the same factors that increase risk for disease spillover also threaten biodiversity. USAID’s Wildlife Trafficking Response, Assessment, and Priority Setting (Wildlife TRAPS) partnership shifted to a One Health phase in 2020 after seven years of efforts to transform the scale and impact of actions to combat wildlife crime. Wildlife TRAPS is an agreement with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and is implemented by the wildlife trade specialists of TRAFFIC, a leading non-governmental organization working globally on trade in wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
Since 2013, Wildlife TRAPS has tackled trafficking of high-value, highly criminalized wildlife products like elephant ivory, rhino horn, and pangolin scales. Through assessments, collaborative priority setting, and capacity building of customs agents, community members, financial institutions, and package delivery services, among others, TRAFFIC has mobilized millions more people to detect and disrupt wildlife crime.
Now TRAPS is applying its approach and networks to the challenge of reducing zoonotic disease spillover risk associated with wildlife trade. Activities include monitoring high-risk markets and wildlife supply chains, developing materials and campaigns to change consumer behavior, and reducing the vulnerability of food supply chains to wildlife pathogens.
Many of the same countries prioritized for conservation are also a priority for addressing risks of zoonotic disease spillover. As a result, STOP Spillover and TRAPS are exploring ways to work together.
It is clear that the future well-being of humans, animals, and the environment are inextricably linked.
USAID experts in health, food security, humanitarian response, and conservation will continue to work together to address One Health-related issues including emerging disease threats, antimicrobial resistance, land degradation, and the wildlife trade to make the world a safer and healthier place for people, animals, and ecosystems.
Learn more:
USAID TRANSFORM project is a five-year, up to $33 million project that will harness private sector-led innovation to address emerging infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance in animal production value chains in Asia and Africa.
One Health Workforce-NextGen is a five-year project that is systematically supporting workforce transformation by empowering One Health university networks and their member institutions in Africa and Southeast Asia to develop and deliver training and programs that equip current and future professionals with the multisectoral skills and competencies needed to address complex health issues, including zoonosis and AMR.
USAID Wildlife Asia works to improve regional action to end wildlife crime through increasing risks to perpetrators and reducing profits for those that engage in wildlife crime. Its objectives include reducing consumer demand, strengthening regional law enforcement, enhancing political commitment and support, and supporting regional cooperation.
About the Author
USAID’s Sharing Environment and Energy Knowledge (SEEK) project works directly with USAID’s environment offices to strengthen the Agency’s capacity for greater efficiency, learning, and adaptive management, focusing on enhancing staff’s skills and abilities and developing communications systems that facilitate effective knowledge sharing.
