Communicating One Health: A Toolkit for Building Community Resilience

"60% of pathogens that cause human diseases originate from domestic animals or wildlife."

This interactive multimedia toolkit is designed to ensure that information providers are better prepared to communicate on disasters and emergencies in line with the One Health approach. One Health is defined as "a collaborative, multisectoral approach that recognizes the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment with the objective of achieving optimal health outcomes." The ultimate goal of this resource is to mainstream One Health into everyday conversations to build resilience and better prepare for future disasters and emergencies. It is intended for those at the frontline of providing information during emergencies, including public officials, journalists, civil society, and academic institutions. Each chapter offers links to videos of interviews or panel discussions as well as to trainings and resources to highlight certain concepts and ideas around One Health.
 
The toolkit is part of the Building Community Resilience through Emergency Communications and Preparedness project in the islands of Barbados and Dominica, which is supported by the Clara Lionel Foundation. The Eastern Caribbean islands of Barbados and Dominica are facing increasingly devastating impacts from disasters, including hurricanes, flooding, and volcanic ash from neighbouring islands. These disasters are fuelled by changing weather patterns and exacerbated by infectious diseases that emerge in other parts of the world. Although it is conceived for a regional audience, according to the publisher, the Internews Health Journalism Network, the toolkit is also relevant for a global audience, as it brings into focus a local reality, while connecting the dots across sectors and with the larger picture.
 
The chapters, which were released sequentially from October 2023 until March 2024, are as follows:

Chapter 1: The Concept of One Health: Unity is Strength [PDF] - This first chapter introduces the concept of One Health and the idea that working together means being stronger when tackling big-picture challenges or grappling with emergencies and disasters. The One Health approach mobilises multiple sectors, disciplines, and communities at various levels of society to work together to foster well-being and tackle threats to health and ecosystems, while addressing the collective need for clean water, energy and air, safe and nutritious food, taking action on climate change, and contributing to sustainable development.

Chapter 2: Human Health: Factors that Impact our Wellbeing [PDF] - This chapter explores how human health is impacted by everything around us, including "zoonotic diseases" that can jump from animals to humans. Epidemics and pandemics often result from the emergence or reemergence of a zoonotic disease at the community level. There is ample evidence that humans are driving environmental changes that increase the risks of zoonotic diseases emerging and spreading. In this chapter, Dr. Dennis Carroll, Senior Advisor for global health security with University Research Co. (URC) and former Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)'s Emerging Threats Division, shares six lessons learned from previous pandemics. He explains how virus surveillance is done and offers insights into what is necessary to better manage future zoonosis with a One Health approach. Other experts in animal health and human health contribute their know-how to this discussion.

Chapter 3: Difficult Coexistence - A Planet Under Siege [PDF] - This chapter explores how communities can better prepare to mitigate climate impact. It covers topics such as building resilient health systems capable of responding to public health crises caused by disasters, epidemic and pandemics. It also covers water and sanitation, which is often compromised when a disaster happens and can compound the emergency because of bacteria contamination from animal and human waste. One of the many consequences of changing weather patterns is a rise in vector-borne diseases, such as the Zika virus, yellow fever, and West Nile fever. There is also a rise in malaria-carrying mosquitoes in areas where malaria had previously been eradicated. This chapter explores some innovative ways to contain the spread and protect human populations. Examples of adaptation projects from Barbados and Dominica are presented to show that building resilience is possible if one plans ahead.

Chapter 4: One Health - Time to Think in Blue [PDF] - This chapter explores how ocean and marine health impact human health and all life on planet Earth. Plastics, disease pathogens, over-fishing, and climate change are major threats to marine animal health. Pathogens that have the potential to impact marine wildlife also have the potential to impact humans and our food supply. Although the oceans and their ecosystems cover most of the planet, playing a pivotal role in the health and welfare of humans and animals, relatively little research has been published on One Health within aquatic ecosystems. Alex Muñoz Wilson, Senior Director for Latin America Pristine Seas Initiative of the National Geographic Society, shares why the planet needs more marine reserves and how they can be created to mitigate the impact of climate change.

Chapter 5: Animal Health - The Embrace of the Species [PDF] - In this chapter, speakers from the World Organization for Animal Health share their approach to One Health, alongside a scientist who has been following the avian influenza outbreak and is studying ways to contain it. It focuses on why keeping animals healthy is a win-win for all species, including humans. In particular, it looks at the term "panzootic", which refers to a pandemic in animals such as the highly pathogenic influenza strain H5N1, which is affecting and decimating populations of domestic and wild birds, as well as sea mammals across the globe.

Chapter 6: Tracking Disinformation in the One Health Space [PDF] - In the aftermath of a disaster, from earthquakes to hurricanes, survival depends on getting reliable answers to the most important questions. When communities don't have trustworthy sources of information available, rumours and misinformation spread rapidly - not only adding to the stress and anxiety of affected people but also potentially putting their lives at risk. Trust in the information that people receive and in the sources that create and disseminate news and information is important. Understanding how to foster, nurture, and enhance trust between consumers and providers of information is essential for successfully mainstreaming the One Health approach. This chapter highlights how Internews' Rumour Tracking methodology was applied to the Building Community Resilience through Emergency Communications and Preparedness project and shares a few insights that resulted from it. It also includes resources for information providers to identify and counter rumours.