Project start date: 01/02/2014 - Project end date: 31/01/2018 

Southeast Asia (SEA) is a recognized hotspot for occurrence and emergence of zoonoses and environmental health issues, which can have devastating socioeconomic and wellbeing impacts and are responsible for suffering and wastage in human and animal populations. Assessing and managing the related risks requires taking into account ecological and social dynamics at play and epidemiological patterns of occurrence.

The EU EuropeAid One Health Programme in Asia is designed to strengthen and institutionalize the collaboration of the animal and human health sectors, agriculture and environment, and to identify the relevant issues and drivers within the ecological and social settings of SEA.

The EU has contracted the 4-years ComAcross project, implemented by CIRAD with involvement of Kasetsart University (Faculty of veterinary Medicine), the Pasteur Institute in Cambodia, the National University of Laos (Faculty of agriculture) and the Lao Oxford Mahosot Welcome Trust Research Unit (LOMWRU: University of Oxford) in the framework of the INNOVATE (Initiative for new OH Ventures in Asia taking Ecosystems into account).

Location: Cambodia, Laos, Thailand.

Objectives

Objective 1:  Setting up a Community of Practice through case study approach and capacity building and promoting Participatory approaches such as Participatory One Health Modelling, Participatory Epidemiology etc. This includes activities such as epidemiological health mentoring, stakeholders and cross-sectorial risk mapping etc.

• Participatory One Health Modelling is about co-constructing a common representation of system context by answering those questions :
  • How do people see or perceive the issue (situation)?
  • Why people act/behave in such a way?
  • How would individuals or group respond to the situation?
  • How to verify what we understood?
  • How to make people see / exchange their world views?
  • How to see/know the output/outcome  resulted from such a collective plan/action?
• Case Studies: The project has selected three “model diseases” in the region that will operate as case studies to foster cross-sectorial collaboration at different levels. The implementation of these case studies is the common thread guiding partners and stakeholders' collaboration. It also allows us to identify gaps in technical skills and to organize the corresponding trainings. The case studies are:
  • Water & Health Case Study: Health impact of poor waste and water resources management at provincial and municipality level in Thailand (Ayutthaya).
  • Encephalitis (Japanese and Nipah virus) Case Study: Control of Japanese encephalitis & Risk of emergence of Nipah virus in Cambodia.
  • Parasitic Zoonosis diseases of livestock Case Study: Cross-sectoral zoonotic parasitic diseases management at provincial and district level in Southern Laos.

Objective 2:  ComAcross Training (Vocational competencies): “fills the gaps” in target groups' skills, through professional training and capacity building.

• Biotech trainings: diagnostic tools & bar coding, these trainings will be organised with BioZoonoSEA biotechnological platform (research and training for epidemiological studies of parasitic zoonotic diseases, from field to laboratory, reservoir and vector studies)
• Trainings promoting systems thinking: data analysis and management, GIS and risk mapping, participatory epidemiology & Participatory Rural Analysis (socioeconomics, wildlife an natural resources,…).

Objective 3:  ComAcross Academic One Health curriculum: InterRisk Master's Programme will ensure the development of an academic curriculum for awareness raising, training and capacity building of the next generation of One Health actors.

Expected Outcomes

The ComAcross project aims to improve integration of “Environment” component in One Health actions and promote One Health collective actions through:

• The improvement of civil servants’ technical skills and methodological resources
• The improvement of data management procedures and methods
• The efficient networking at the OH interface; web-based social networking tools
• The effective implementation of Master 1 and Master 2 modules