ILRI presents at the Ecohealth 2012 conference

Farmer Ma Thi Puong feeds her pigs on her farm near the northern town of Mieu Vac, Vietnam. Recent studies show that Ecohealth approaches are useful in assessing the prevalence of emerging zoonotic diseases in Vietnam (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann).

EcoHealth is an emerging, multi-disciplinary field of study that examines how ecosystem changes affect human health so as to prevent new diseases from emerging.

International experts in this field met in Kunming, China from 15 to 18 October 2012 for the 4th biennial conference of the International Association for Ecology and Health (Ecohealth 2012). The theme of the conference was "Sustaining Ecosystems, Supporting Health".

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) was represented at Ecohealth 2012 by a team of scientists working on food safety, zoonoses and emerging infectious diseases in the Southeast Asia region. Below are links to a selection of their presentations:

Applying participatory approach to study zoonoses in provinces of South Vietnam: Experiences and lessons learned

Ecohealth approaches in prevention of emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases in southern Vietnam: A retrospective study 2008-2011

Ecosystem approaches to the better management of zoonotic emerging infectious diseases in Southeast Asia (EcoZD): Inputs, throughputs and outputs

Field building leadership initiative: Advancing Ecohealth in Southeast Asia

Framing the problem of emerging zoonotic disease risk using a One Health approach

Hygienic practices and microbial contamination of small-scale poultry slaughterhouses in peri-urban areas, Hanoi, Vietnam

Mapping the interface of poverty, emerging markets and zoonoses

South East Asia One Health University Network (SEAOHUN): Lessons learned

Strategies for adopting EcoHealth theory and practice: Lessons from action‐research on zoonotic diseases in Southeast Asia

New ILRI website features research on agriculture associated diseases

Cattle coming in from the fields in the evening in Lhate Village, Chokwe, Mozambique (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). 

If you are interested in research on the links between agriculture and health, then check out the new AgHealth website, a web portal on research activities by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and partners on agriculture-associated diseases.

Prevention and control of agriculture-associated diseases is one of four research components of the collaborative  CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition for Health, which is led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

The other three components are: value chains for enhanced nutrition; biofortification; and integrated agriculture, nutrition and health programs and policies.

ILRI leads the research component on prevention and control of agriculture-associated diseases, which has over 20 projects under four major research activities:

• Emerging infectious diseases
• Food safety
• Neglected zoonoses
• One Health/Ecohealth

For more information on ILRI's work on agriculture-associated diseases, please contact the research component leader Delia Grace (d.grace @ cgiar.org).

ILRI research on food safety in informal markets featured in special supplement of Tropical Animal Health and Production

Testing milk in Kenya's informal milk market. New research studies have evaluated zoonotic health risks associated with urban dairy farming systems in Nairobi, Kenya (photo credit: ILRI/Dave Elsworth).

The August 2012 issue of the journal Tropical Animal Health and Production includes a special supplement on assessing and managing urban zoonoses and foodborne disease in Nairobi and Ibadan.

Featured in the special supplement are 10 research articles by scientists from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and partners from the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), the Kenya Ministry of Agriculture, the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, the University of Ibadan and the University of Nairobi.

Click on the links below to read the abstracts of the articles (journal subscription required for access to full text)

• Evaluating a group-based intervention to improve the safety of meat in Bodija Market, Ibadan, Nigeria 
• The influence of gender and group membership on food safety: The case of meat sellers in Bodija Market, Ibadan, Nigeria 
• Social and gender determinants of risk of cryptosporidiosis, an emerging zoonosis, in Dagoretti, Nairobi, Kenya 
• The multiple burdens of zoonotic disease and an ecohealth approach to their assessment
• Participatory and integrative approaches to food safety in developing country cities 
• Participatory probabilistic assessment of the risk to human health associated with cryptosporidiosis from urban dairying in Dagoretti, Nairobi, Kenya 
• Development and delivery of evidence-based messages to reduce the risk of zoonoses in Nairobi, Kenya 
• A trans-disciplinary study on the health risks of cryptosporidiosis from dairy systems in Dagoretti, Nairobi, Kenya: Study background and farming system characteristics
• Prevalence of cryptosporidiosis in dairy cattle, cattle-keeping families, their non-cattle keeping neighbours and HIV-positive individuals in Dagoretti Division, Nairobi, Kenya 
• Outcome mapping for fostering and measuring change in risk management behaviour among urban dairy farmers in Nairobi, Kenya 

For more information on ILRI’s research on animal health, food safety and zoonoses, please contact Delia Grace (d.grace @ cgiar.org)

International experts call for improved nutrition and health through agriculture

There is need to better understand the linkages between human, animal and environmental health so that we can better manage and mitigate the risks of diseases that are associated with agriculture.

This call was made by Delia Grace, a veterinary epidemiologist and food safety expert with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), during a seminar on leveraging agriculture to enhance nutrition and health hosted by the CGIAR Fund Office in Washington, DC on 5 June 2012.

Grace heads ILRI's research team on animal health, food safety and zoonoses and doubles up as leader of the agriculture-associated diseases component of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health which is led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

Jonathan Wadsworth, executive secretary of the CGIAR Fund Council, chaired the seminar which featured presentations by John McDermott, director of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health; Laurian Unnevehr, IFPRI senior research fellow; and Howarth Bouis, program director of HarvestPlus.

Find out more from this article by the CGIAR Fund Office.