Training course: One Health, data and models for zoonotic disease management

Training course: One Health, data and models for zoonotic disease management from the IndiaZooSystems project

The course was originally delivered online over 3 sessions that took place between November 2021 – January 2022.

The total learning time was approximately 21 hours

Cost: Free to participants from India. Non-Indian participants may be subject to a course fee; please contact us for details.

Format: A blended course delivered through live interactive sessions via Zoom, and learning resources on our online learning portal, UK Learn Worlds

You can sign up for this course by completing this online registration form.

(https://www.ceh.ac.uk/our-science/projects/one-health-data-and-models-zoonotic-disease-management) 

Course Objectives

The course aims to enable the user to:

• Describe the One Health concept and understand how to apply it  to management or research on zoonotic diseases in India

• Summarise the many advantages of a closer cooperation between human health, animal health and environment sectors for zoonotic disease management

• Identify key challenges and opportunities in putting One Health into operation

• Develop ideas for inter-disciplinary approaches that can solve every day One Health problems that you may have in your work area

• Understand the range of different models and data that you can apply to zoonotic diseases in different epidemiological scenarios

• Identify key data and knowledge that you can bring  together across the human health, animal health and environmental sectors to better understand, predict and manage zoonotic diseases

• Gain hands-on, practical experience of modelling geographical and temporal data for zoonotic diseases to answer different questions relevant to management

• Share experiences and develop ideas for how models and data for zoonotic diseases could better inform disease management and policy

Who is the course for?

The course is for anyone who is interested in zoonotic diseases and the links between human, animals and the environment. The course may be of particular value to people who are analysing data to inform zoonotic disease management in humans or animals.

Course dates and format (detail)

This online course is a blended learning experience with recorded lectures, case-studies, recorded discussions, and hands-on tutorials in modelling together with recorded modelling discussions.

The course comprises of three blocks:

• Block I: Introducing the One Health approach for managing zoonotic diseases

• Block II: Models and data analysis for zoonotic diseases and links to policy 

• Block III: Hands-on training in models and data analysis for zoonotic diseases

It is recommend that participants work through all the blocks in the correct order.

Course overview

Zoonotic diseases - that are transmitted from animals to humans – make up 60% of infectious disease events worldwide. They disproportionately affect tropical communities. The burdens and impacts of such diseases are increasing and evolving. This is due to multiple global drivers including environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, agricultural intensification, human settlement and climate change.

Multiple livestock and wildlife hosts are often involved in transmission of zoonotic diseases. Human activities across sectors can promote spill-over and lead to exposure. Global "One Health" approaches recognise that human health, wildlife and domestic animal health and the environment are interconnected. "One Health" promotes integrated cross-sectoral approaches to reduce zoonotic disease impacts.

This interactive online training course will provide you with a good understanding of One Health and practical examples of how inter-disciplinary One Health approaches have been applied to zoonotic diseases in India.  The course will show how we can link quantitative models, surveillance, and knowledge across the public health, animal health and agriculture, private and environmental sectors to improve and target management of endemic and emerging zoonotic disease problems.

Experts from the ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE), ICAR- National Institute for Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (NIVEDI), the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and the ICMR-Vector Control Research Centre and the Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP) will deliver the training with invited speakers from the Ashoka Trust for Ecology and Environment, Emory University in the US (see below).

The training is part of a UK-India research project “Integrating participatory approaches and traditional models to strengthen One Health responses to zoonotic diseases in India’s changing environments (IndiaZooSystems)”. You can find out more information about the IndoZooSystems project below.

Welcome/Introduction: The global challenge of zoonotic diseases and the One Health Concept: Dr Beth Purse (Block 1)

Why model zoonotic diseases: Dr Ani Belsare (Block 2 - Day 2)

Risk mapping tutorial walk through: Dr Beth Purse (Block 3 - Day 3)

How do I sign up?

Please register for the course at this online registration form - It includes some questions about your experience in One Health and modelling and your organisation. Please ensure that you have read and agreed to the privacy terms and conditions.

Once your details have been reviewed, your will be granted access to the course material on UK LearnWorlds.

You will receive two emails. One prompting you to complete your registration on the UK Learn Worlds platform by creating a password and a second email confirmatin that you are registered on the One Health Zoonotic Diseases course. 

What software or tools do you need?

You will need access to a desk-top or laptop computer with Zoom installed. For the hands-on training block III, you will need to install QGIS, EpiInfo and R (link to instructions).

Recorded sessions with the trainers and downloadable instructions are available to support software installation. 

More information on the IndiaZooSystems project

The IndiaZooSystems project aims to reduce health, welfare and livelihood impacts of zoonotic diseases by better understanding links between surveillance, knowledge, research and models across sectors and improving current information systems that support intervention. It is funded by the United Kingdom Department of International Development (DFID), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Wellcome under the Health Systems Research Initiative [Grant No. MR/S012893/1].

 The objectives of the project achieved through three inter-linked work packages (WPs), are to:

• Analyse and map key stakeholders and their roles in each sector in terms of management and research of zoonotic diseases at national, state and district levels.

• Prioritise, with relevant stakeholders, endemic and emerging zoonotic diseases whose management could be improved by information systems based on multi-sectoral linkage of data, knowledge and models.

• Understand the management priorities, decision-making processes and needs for decision support of actors across sectors and scales.

• Identify links and share knowledge across sectors on socio-ecological and environmental risk factors for zoonotic diseases, identify data sources and gaps.

• Establish proof-of-concept frameworks for 2-4 selected priority diseases in Karnataka State, to test whether cross-sectoral linkage of data, models and knowledge is (i) feasible and (ii) improves understanding of risk factors and vulnerability and (iii) produces timely information to support state-level, multi-sectoral decision makers in different contexts.

• Build capacity in (i) interpretation and prediction of zoonotic disease impacts and interventions, tailored to needs of decision-makers (ii) One Health interfaces.