Connecting Global Priorities Biodiversity and Human Health

monkey. If non-human primates are hunted and
consumed, these activities should be accompanied
by intensive surveillance efforts for early detection
and response to disease spill-over events.
• Advances in the identification and modelling of
synthetic biological, ecological and anthropogenic
parameters that drive the emergence of wildlife
diseases, and analysis of risk mitigation strategies.
• Prevention of harvesting for wildlife trade and/
or regulation for disease control in addition to
source population sustainability.
• Increased systems research to better
understand the mechanism of pathogen jumping
and evolution and the effects of community
composition, abundance, and other ecosystem
dynamics.
• Careful management of tourism in biodiverse
areas, in order to reduce risk of infection especially
where anthropophilic vectors occur (there
should also be measures in place to reduce the
possibility of introduction of pathogens into these
environments from people and domestic animals).
• Development and support for the inclusion
of monitoring wildlife pathogens in national
programmes of surveillance in health, agriculture
and conservation.
– Surveillance and risk prediction systems
can also support risk analysis. For example,
in Brazil, the Information System of Wildlife
of Oswaldo Cruz Foundation is designed
to use mathematical models to build alerts
of the occurrence of pathogens in wildlife
with potential human involvement, with the
participation of society and experts in mobile
technology. Additionally, the USAID Emerging
Pandemic Threats PREDICT programme has
conducted pathogen surveillance in wildlife
in 20 countries that are “hotspots” for disease
emergence and worked closely with health,
agriculture and environment ministries to
characterize risks and interpret findings
through a One Health approach (see case study
in Part III of this volume).
These measures and policies are largely outside
the competence levels of most human and
animal health systems, which in any case are
largely reactive. Policy and implementation
should involve a One Health approach to ensure
a politically, socially and economically acceptable
solution to the whole of society, and not to the
detriment of the environment.
• More proactive and integrated risk assessment
and analysis, to be informed and refined by
integrated infectious disease surveillance and
response measures. Analysis, monitoring and
management of infectious disease risks are
warranted for both potential conversion of natural
areas, as well as changing ecologies in urban areas
(e.g. proposed “greening” of cities, which may
change interactions between humans and other
species). Some approaches that can be leveraged
include:
– Risk analysis tools, such as the approaches
set forth in the OIE Guidelines on assessing risk
of non-native animals becoming invasive and the
OIE-IUCN Guidelines to disease risk analysis, can
provide qualitative and quantitative measures
of risk.
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