In India, despite an ever-increasing interface between animals and humans resulting in human-wildlife conflict (HWC) and risks of zoonotic diseases, measures to address the health of animals and humans are implemented by wildlife, veterinary and public health sector institutions through separate channels, which is inhibiting operationalization of One Health approach. The much needed mechanism for such coordination has been developed  and operationalised, embedded in an overarching capacity development plan, by the Indo-German Cooperation Project on HWC Mitigation in India. The project has successfully integrated One Health into the national HWC mitigation plan and guidelines, established a system of collaborative training courses, with forest, veterinary, agriculture and public health sector institutions and experts, which has resulted in a joint training curriculum and has strengthened specialised rapid response teams at field-level.

From 2010 to 2013, wildlife disease monitoring capacities were enhanced by the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats Program´s PREDICT project in Bolivia within a One Health approach. Collaborative work with government agencies for field investigations, risk detection and prompt response were promoted; key stakeholders were trained on wildlife disease surveillance; and diagnostic capacities were enhanced in local laboratories. As a result, in 2012 trained staff reported a mortality event affecting red howler monkeys (Alouatta sara). The outbreak investigation confirmed Yellow Fever Virus, a flavivirus transmitted by mosquitoes that aggressively affects neotropical non-human primates and may cause acute and often fatal disease in humans. Effective communications between the PREDICT team and the national health authorities allowed a prompt alert and the rapid implementation of actions to prevent human cases, including vaccination of at risk human population, public education and outreach, and mosquito-control.

The Bracken Cave Preserve is home to the largest bat colony in the world, an estimated 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis). Plans to construct a residential complex along the 1,521-acre tract adjacent to the cave mouth posed a serious risk to wildlife and the potential human population. Motivated by concerns for a nearby aquifer, but limited by a lack of zoning laws in the area, the local government commissioned a report on the potential public health risks of the development. The report outlined concerns for human exposure to various pathogens, from both exploring the cave and the bats’ presence around the new residences. To protect the bat and human populations, advocates from diverse sectors, including conservationists, health experts, city and county governments, and the public water utility, came together to purchase the tract of land. In 2014, the property was officially made into the Bracken Cave Preserve, protecting this area essential for environmental, animal, and human health in perpetuity.

As part of a public health communication strategy related to the identification of a novel filovirus in bats in West Africa, an initiative was launched to create a widely accessible One Health educational and risk communication resource for community outreach. A moderated picture book was developed, titled Living Safely with Bats, that now has been adapted, translated, and used in more than 20 countries in Africa and Asia. This product includes text and artwork developed by a consortium of public health, veterinary health, conservation, bat, and disease ecology experts from 29 countries. The book is a collection of evidence-based prevention measures which encourage community members to live safely with bats and avoid exposure to potential zoonotic threats.

In northern Republic of Congo, hunters and community members were recruited to report morbidity and mortality events in wild animals. In the region, great ape die-off events were found to precede human cases of Ebola virus disease. Through the community engagement program, reporting channels were developed, relaying information from small villages to connector communities via radio, messages carried by commercial drivers or other contact routes with national authorities. This facilitated information flow to veterinarians so that diagnostic sampling could occur within the short timeframe needed before carcasses degrade. Reporting of events expanded the surveillance system to empower local people and allowed for early warning through sentinel surveillance for possible disease threats to humans and wild animals. Accompanying community outreach also helped to raise awareness about the dangers of hunting certain species or eating animals found sick or dead, particularly in epidemic periods, thereby promoting safer practices.

The PREDICT project, a global pathogen surveillance program, started in the state of Sabah in 2012 as a collaboration between Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), Conservation Medicine (CM) and EcoHealth Alliance (EHA). Sabah Wildlife Department’s – Wildlife Health, Genetic and Forensic Laboratory (WHGFL) is a Biosafety Level 2 laboratory that was built in Sabah to avoid sending thousands of samples collected through PREDICT and ongoing projects out of the state for pathogen screenings. CM designed and oversaw the building of this laboratory certified since 2013 to international standards and are part of the management committee. The lab is used to screen samples for zoonotic disease, as well as genetic and forensic research. 65 novel and 18 known viruses were detected in Sabah through the PREDICT project, providing the Malaysian government with actionable data to inform risk mitigation policies at the national and state level.

In Vietnam, there are thousands of live wild animals confiscated from illegal wildlife trade incidents, however, the majority of them could not survive after confiscation due to lack of proper treatment. Wildlife rescues are not limited to saving and taking care of animals from confiscations but also rescue and rehabilitation, release and monitoring, conservation breeding program, capacity building, and collaboration to safely release them back to the wild, and to recover and secure wild populations. After 7 years of working, we have released more than 1200 confiscated animals back into the wild with a success rate of more than 60%, many of which were tagged and tracked post-released. Moreover, a Vietnam Wildlife Rescue Association is going to be established to support wildlife rescue centres through the network.

Uganda’s Gorilla tourism started in 1993. Concerns about disease transmission from humans to the great apes were quickly raised. In Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the first scabies outbreak in 1996 resulted in the death of an infant gorilla. The disease was traced back to people, in this case to the local communities living around the National Park.

Mountain gorillas are endangered, with only 1,063 individuals remaining in the wild. Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) was founded by Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, with the mission to promote biodiversity conservation by enabling people, gorillas and other wildlife to coexist through improving their health and livelihoods in and around Africa’s protected areas.

CTPH has extensive experience implementing One Health approach in protected area management, and we are committed to sharing our lessons learned and recommendations with other countries facing similar issues.

The Wildlife Health Surveillance Network, known as WildHealthNet, is a regional initiative supporting national governments in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam to build and implement national wildlife health surveillance strategies. The project has enhanced the ability of these nations to safely detect, monitor, trace, and report emerging pathogens in wildlife, to facilitate more rapid response and mitigation. The system has already detected trans-national disease outbreaks of zoonotic diseases and pathogens of economic, wildlife, and human health significance. More rapid identification of wildlife pathogens benefits public health, livestock health, rural livelihoods and food security, and conservation.

In the Republic of the Congo, a 2005 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak had a human mortality rate of more than 80%, and an estimated 5,000 great apes also died. In partnership with the government, WCS set up an early warning system for EVD, working with hunters, forest communities, and rangers to monitor wildlife health through a carcass monitoring and sampling network, whilst promoting best practices in disease risk reduction for these communities that rely on bushmeat as a source of protein. The community-based wildlife mortality monitoring network raises awareness among communities and covers more than 30,000 km2 in in northern Congo, an area home to 60% of the world’s gorillas. When a hunter reports a carcass, a response team travels to the site to safely collect samples from the carcass for testing. Once the sample is collected, it is sent to the national laboratory for analysis and the team returns to the reporting village with results and to reinforce health messages.

Integrated livestock and wildlife monitoring, surveillance, and response are essential to guide the implementation of disease control measures to protect biodiversity and livelihoods. Improved wildlife surveillance and  analyses of disease outbreaks in Mongolia showed that wildlife were victims of livestock disease spillover, not the source of the outbreaks as had been previously thought. This avoided mass culling of wildlife and moved towards wildlife-friendly disease control efforts. Strategies for both livestock and wildlife are now being designed to control and eradicate Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) virus in Mongolia. The incorporation of wildlife is now recognized as essential in global PPR eradication strategies. With saiga sensitivity to disease epidemics more fully appreciated, increased trade protections through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) were implemented, which will further help safeguard the Mongolian saiga’s survival.

In 2015 a mass mortality event struck the highly range restricted Bellinger River Snapping Turtle (Myuchelys georgesi), wiping out 90% of the species in under six weeks. The initial emergency response included site examinations, removal of dead and sick animals, and a water quality investigation. Bellinger River Virus (previously unknown to science) was eventually identified as the causative agent. To better understand the circumstances behind this mass mortality event, a One Health approach was taken addressing how the animals, causative agent, and surrounding environment interacted with each another. A facilitated multi-stakeholder conservation planning workshop was held incorporating the IUCN SSC/OIE’s Wildlife Disease Risk Analysis process (Jakob-Hoff et al, 2014). This ensured all potential contributing factors associated with the Bellinger River Virus outbreak were reflected in immediate and long-term priorities and on-ground recovery actions.

The Western Asia Bat Research Network (WAB-Net) aims to enhance bat conservation and zoonotic disease detection through collaborative research and capacity building-focused trainings with bat biologists, virologists, government authorities, and academics from the region. WAB-Net coordinates research focused on bats, zoonotic diseases, and host-virus dynamics in 7 countries. This proactive approach to pandemic prevention aims to identify both zoonotic viruses before they spill over from bat hosts to humans and the risk factors associated with spillover. Field trainings, including proper PPE usage, bat capture and handling, and cold chain management, promote positive health outcomes for both the humans and bats. All samples are sent to two regional labs where trainings and standardized protocols are implemented, furthering biosafety and scientific advancement in the region. WAB-Net’s “bats for peace” mission promotes strengthened outcomes in both scientific discoveries and constructive political conversations.

As the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, scientists and conservation managers began questioning how it would impact their research, conservation efforts, and the wellbeing of global wildlife. Primates are susceptible to the same diseases as humans, and the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group had previously created guidance on best practices for great apes’ protection from other respiratory diseases due to the presence of human tourists and field workers. The group began collecting questions about how COVID-19 would impact great apes from protected area managers, zookeepers, field researchers, and other individuals whose work is directly linked with the animals. A working group was put together and guidelines for how to approach great ape conservation in the face of this new and deadly pandemic were drafted and shared. These guidelines were aimed at researchers and conservationists, but have since grown and been reworked for other audiences including extractive industries, governments, and site-specific teams.

Addressing the public health, food production, and conservation aspects of wildlife epidemics and zoonotic disease threats requires actions from multiple sectors across the different interfaces where wildlife, domestic animal, and human contact may occur. To better understand the role of different agencies in wildlife and zoonotic disease management in China, a stakeholder mapping and policy review was undertaken. This work reviewed the current laws and regulations, government reports and policy documents, and existing literature on zoonotic disease preparedness and prevention across the forestry, agriculture, and public health authorities in China, to articulate the current landscape of potential risks, existing mandates, and gaps. A key finding was that responsibilities for zoonotic disease management are currently fragmented across agencies.

Under the PREDICT-2 Liberia project, a field team was trained on pathogen surveillance in wildlife, including safe and humane capture, holding, sampling, and release of animals, as well as sample cold chain, transport, and biosafety and personal protective equipment (PPE) use. This team went on to sample over 5,000 bats and several hundred rodents to increase understanding of viral circulation patterns in West Africa, including a focus on Ebola virus. In 2019, government partners in neighboring Côte d’Ivoire expressed their interest in strengthening wildlife surveillance capacity. To support development of this capacity, the PREDICT Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire teams co-led a training at the Abidjan Zoo in June 2019, with the trainers from Liberia team providing hands-on training in bat and rodent sampling.

Liberia is a diverse nation with a wide variety of tribal, cultural, and religious practices, where the majority of the population depend on the forest and its resources for their livelihood. Such interactions with the forest environment put people at risk of contracting zoonotic diseases that may spill over from animals. However, widely spread beliefs that traditionalists, witches, wizards, and even spirits have the ability to cast diseases upon people continue to hamper the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and control of many diseases. Under the PREDICT-2 project, Liberian One Health experts trained in health, conservation, and social sciences conducted biological and behavioral surveys, followed by community outreach that improved awareness and acceptance of zoonotic disease risk reduction practices. Using the ‘Living Safely with Bats’ book, this outreach also reinforced biodiversity protection and animal welfare. Its success was enabled by trust, awareness, and a strong evidence base.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which is widely recognized as originating in a market selling live wildlife in China, has caused the deaths of millions of people and major impacts on livelihoods, society, and economies across the world. Conditions increasing risk for emergence of zoonoses from wildlife are not unique to China. They are prevalent in wild animal value chains across the globe, including in Viet Nam, where wildlife is commonly traded for meat, pets, skins, traditional medicine, and for display in private collections. Disease surveillance along wildlife trade chains in Viet Nam has increased awareness of potential public health risks, but much trade continues and the risk of zoonoses’ emergence and transmission remains. An increasing body of scientific data supports multi-sectoral coordination and an evidence-based approach to strengthening policy on illegal wildlife trade (IWT) in Viet Nam to address the risk of zoonotic spillover, with resulting co-benefits for biodiversity and human health. 

In September 2022 a training was held in Vietnam’s Cúc Phương National Park on the recently developed IUCN guidance on Prevention, Detection, Response and Recovery from Disease Risks in Protected and Conserved Areas and accompanying One Health Principles for Sustainable Tourism. The training was designed for professionals, wildlife handlers and park rangers to introduce the One Health concept, IUCN guidance, sampling, human safety, risk assessment, biosafety, personal protective equipment (PPE), and biohazard waste disposal. Forty participants from Cát Tiên, Pù Mát and Cúc Phương National Parks took part in the two-day training. The field experience and expertise of the training team and adaptation to the relevant context ensured practical application of the guidance. Sessions such as the ‘Glo Germ’ test, demonstrating the importance of proper PPE donning and doffing and handwashing procedures, helped make the training interactive and reinforce key concepts.

Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis) are Africa’s most endangered carnivore, with approximately 500 individuals remaining along the country’s Afroalpine habitat, approximately half of which are found in the Bale Mountains. While habitat loss is a major threat to species survival, infectious disease epizootics have had serious impacts on wolf populations. Since 1992, the wolves in the Bale Mountains have faced eight major outbreaks from rabies and canine distemper viruses. Outbreaks are prompted by introduction of the viruses from domestic dogs. The density and social nature of the wolves allow for rapid virus transmission amongst and between packs; concerningly, outbreaks have resulted in extinctions of entire packs. To effectively manage this threat, the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme and its partners have developed and applied a comprehensive conservation strategy, including preventive and reactive vaccination and disease monitoring in line with a One Health approach.

In one of the world’s hotspots for zoonotic epidemics, the Congo Basin, WWF Germany has contributed significantly to the establishment of an early warning system for zoonotic pathogen outbreaks.

In two ecotourism sites, Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas (Central African Republic) and Campo Ma’an National Park (Cameroon), WWF has been following a One Health approach since 2012, which takes into account wildlife and human health as well as intact natural habitats. From the beginning, WWF has been working closely with the Robert Koch-Institute (since 2021: Helmholtz Institute for One Health, HIOH).

The goal of the One Health Program is to establish a health monitoring system for people, wildlife and their habitat that benefits the local population in terms of their health and natural livelihoods. The aim is to rapidly detect the spread of zoonotic pathogens in order to establish an early warning system for disease outbreaks (including Ebola, monkeypox and anthrax).

In India, despite an ever-increasing interface between animals and humans resulting in human-wildlife conflict (HWC) and risks of zoonotic diseases, measures to address the health of animals and humans are implemented by wildlife, veterinary and public health sector institutions through separate channels, which is inhibiting operationalization of One Health approach. The much needed mechanism for such coordination has been developed  and operationalised, embedded in an overarching capacity development plan, by the Indo-German Cooperation Project on HWC Mitigation in India. The project has successfully integrated One Health into the national HWC mitigation plan and guidelines, established a system of collaborative training courses, with forest, veterinary, agriculture and public health sector institutions and experts, which has resulted in a joint training curriculum and has strengthened specialised rapid response teams at field-level.

From 2010 to 2013, wildlife disease monitoring capacities were enhanced by the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats Program´s PREDICT project in Bolivia within a One Health approach. Collaborative work with government agencies for field investigations, risk detection and prompt response were promoted; key stakeholders were trained on wildlife disease surveillance; and diagnostic capacities were enhanced in local laboratories. As a result, in 2012 trained staff reported a mortality event affecting red howler monkeys (Alouatta sara). The outbreak investigation confirmed Yellow Fever Virus, a flavivirus transmitted by mosquitoes that aggressively affects neotropical non-human primates and may cause acute and often fatal disease in humans. Effective communications between the PREDICT team and the national health authorities allowed a prompt alert and the rapid implementation of actions to prevent human cases, including vaccination of at risk human population, public education and outreach, and mosquito-control.

The Bracken Cave Preserve is home to the largest bat colony in the world, an estimated 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis). Plans to construct a residential complex along the 1,521-acre tract adjacent to the cave mouth posed a serious risk to wildlife and the potential human population. Motivated by concerns for a nearby aquifer, but limited by a lack of zoning laws in the area, the local government commissioned a report on the potential public health risks of the development. The report outlined concerns for human exposure to various pathogens, from both exploring the cave and the bats’ presence around the new residences. To protect the bat and human populations, advocates from diverse sectors, including conservationists, health experts, city and county governments, and the public water utility, came together to purchase the tract of land. In 2014, the property was officially made into the Bracken Cave Preserve, protecting this area essential for environmental, animal, and human health in perpetuity.

As part of a public health communication strategy related to the identification of a novel filovirus in bats in West Africa, an initiative was launched to create a widely accessible One Health educational and risk communication resource for community outreach. A moderated picture book was developed, titled Living Safely with Bats, that now has been adapted, translated, and used in more than 20 countries in Africa and Asia. This product includes text and artwork developed by a consortium of public health, veterinary health, conservation, bat, and disease ecology experts from 29 countries. The book is a collection of evidence-based prevention measures which encourage community members to live safely with bats and avoid exposure to potential zoonotic threats.

In northern Republic of Congo, hunters and community members were recruited to report morbidity and mortality events in wild animals. In the region, great ape die-off events were found to precede human cases of Ebola virus disease. Through the community engagement program, reporting channels were developed, relaying information from small villages to connector communities via radio, messages carried by commercial drivers or other contact routes with national authorities. This facilitated information flow to veterinarians so that diagnostic sampling could occur within the short timeframe needed before carcasses degrade. Reporting of events expanded the surveillance system to empower local people and allowed for early warning through sentinel surveillance for possible disease threats to humans and wild animals. Accompanying community outreach also helped to raise awareness about the dangers of hunting certain species or eating animals found sick or dead, particularly in epidemic periods, thereby promoting safer practices.

The PREDICT project, a global pathogen surveillance program, started in the state of Sabah in 2012 as a collaboration between Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), Conservation Medicine (CM) and EcoHealth Alliance (EHA). Sabah Wildlife Department’s – Wildlife Health, Genetic and Forensic Laboratory (WHGFL) is a Biosafety Level 2 laboratory that was built in Sabah to avoid sending thousands of samples collected through PREDICT and ongoing projects out of the state for pathogen screenings. CM designed and oversaw the building of this laboratory certified since 2013 to international standards and are part of the management committee. The lab is used to screen samples for zoonotic disease, as well as genetic and forensic research. 65 novel and 18 known viruses were detected in Sabah through the PREDICT project, providing the Malaysian government with actionable data to inform risk mitigation policies at the national and state level.

In Vietnam, there are thousands of live wild animals confiscated from illegal wildlife trade incidents, however, the majority of them could not survive after confiscation due to lack of proper treatment. Wildlife rescues are not limited to saving and taking care of animals from confiscations but also rescue and rehabilitation, release and monitoring, conservation breeding program, capacity building, and collaboration to safely release them back to the wild, and to recover and secure wild populations. After 7 years of working, we have released more than 1200 confiscated animals back into the wild with a success rate of more than 60%, many of which were tagged and tracked post-released. Moreover, a Vietnam Wildlife Rescue Association is going to be established to support wildlife rescue centres through the network.

Uganda’s Gorilla tourism started in 1993. Concerns about disease transmission from humans to the great apes were quickly raised. In Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the first scabies outbreak in 1996 resulted in the death of an infant gorilla. The disease was traced back to people, in this case to the local communities living around the National Park.

Mountain gorillas are endangered, with only 1,063 individuals remaining in the wild. Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) was founded by Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, with the mission to promote biodiversity conservation by enabling people, gorillas and other wildlife to coexist through improving their health and livelihoods in and around Africa’s protected areas.

CTPH has extensive experience implementing One Health approach in protected area management, and we are committed to sharing our lessons learned and recommendations with other countries facing similar issues.

The Wildlife Health Surveillance Network, known as WildHealthNet, is a regional initiative supporting national governments in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam to build and implement national wildlife health surveillance strategies. The project has enhanced the ability of these nations to safely detect, monitor, trace, and report emerging pathogens in wildlife, to facilitate more rapid response and mitigation. The system has already detected trans-national disease outbreaks of zoonotic diseases and pathogens of economic, wildlife, and human health significance. More rapid identification of wildlife pathogens benefits public health, livestock health, rural livelihoods and food security, and conservation.

In the Republic of the Congo, a 2005 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak had a human mortality rate of more than 80%, and an estimated 5,000 great apes also died. In partnership with the government, WCS set up an early warning system for EVD, working with hunters, forest communities, and rangers to monitor wildlife health through a carcass monitoring and sampling network, whilst promoting best practices in disease risk reduction for these communities that rely on bushmeat as a source of protein. The community-based wildlife mortality monitoring network raises awareness among communities and covers more than 30,000 km2 in in northern Congo, an area home to 60% of the world’s gorillas. When a hunter reports a carcass, a response team travels to the site to safely collect samples from the carcass for testing. Once the sample is collected, it is sent to the national laboratory for analysis and the team returns to the reporting village with results and to reinforce health messages.

Integrated livestock and wildlife monitoring, surveillance, and response are essential to guide the implementation of disease control measures to protect biodiversity and livelihoods. Improved wildlife surveillance and  analyses of disease outbreaks in Mongolia showed that wildlife were victims of livestock disease spillover, not the source of the outbreaks as had been previously thought. This avoided mass culling of wildlife and moved towards wildlife-friendly disease control efforts. Strategies for both livestock and wildlife are now being designed to control and eradicate Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) virus in Mongolia. The incorporation of wildlife is now recognized as essential in global PPR eradication strategies. With saiga sensitivity to disease epidemics more fully appreciated, increased trade protections through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) were implemented, which will further help safeguard the Mongolian saiga’s survival.

In 2015 a mass mortality event struck the highly range restricted Bellinger River Snapping Turtle (Myuchelys georgesi), wiping out 90% of the species in under six weeks. The initial emergency response included site examinations, removal of dead and sick animals, and a water quality investigation. Bellinger River Virus (previously unknown to science) was eventually identified as the causative agent. To better understand the circumstances behind this mass mortality event, a One Health approach was taken addressing how the animals, causative agent, and surrounding environment interacted with each another. A facilitated multi-stakeholder conservation planning workshop was held incorporating the IUCN SSC/OIE’s Wildlife Disease Risk Analysis process (Jakob-Hoff et al, 2014). This ensured all potential contributing factors associated with the Bellinger River Virus outbreak were reflected in immediate and long-term priorities and on-ground recovery actions.

The Western Asia Bat Research Network (WAB-Net) aims to enhance bat conservation and zoonotic disease detection through collaborative research and capacity building-focused trainings with bat biologists, virologists, government authorities, and academics from the region. WAB-Net coordinates research focused on bats, zoonotic diseases, and host-virus dynamics in 7 countries. This proactive approach to pandemic prevention aims to identify both zoonotic viruses before they spill over from bat hosts to humans and the risk factors associated with spillover. Field trainings, including proper PPE usage, bat capture and handling, and cold chain management, promote positive health outcomes for both the humans and bats. All samples are sent to two regional labs where trainings and standardized protocols are implemented, furthering biosafety and scientific advancement in the region. WAB-Net’s “bats for peace” mission promotes strengthened outcomes in both scientific discoveries and constructive political conversations.

As the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, scientists and conservation managers began questioning how it would impact their research, conservation efforts, and the wellbeing of global wildlife. Primates are susceptible to the same diseases as humans, and the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group had previously created guidance on best practices for great apes’ protection from other respiratory diseases due to the presence of human tourists and field workers. The group began collecting questions about how COVID-19 would impact great apes from protected area managers, zookeepers, field researchers, and other individuals whose work is directly linked with the animals. A working group was put together and guidelines for how to approach great ape conservation in the face of this new and deadly pandemic were drafted and shared. These guidelines were aimed at researchers and conservationists, but have since grown and been reworked for other audiences including extractive industries, governments, and site-specific teams.

Addressing the public health, food production, and conservation aspects of wildlife epidemics and zoonotic disease threats requires actions from multiple sectors across the different interfaces where wildlife, domestic animal, and human contact may occur. To better understand the role of different agencies in wildlife and zoonotic disease management in China, a stakeholder mapping and policy review was undertaken. This work reviewed the current laws and regulations, government reports and policy documents, and existing literature on zoonotic disease preparedness and prevention across the forestry, agriculture, and public health authorities in China, to articulate the current landscape of potential risks, existing mandates, and gaps. A key finding was that responsibilities for zoonotic disease management are currently fragmented across agencies.

Under the PREDICT-2 Liberia project, a field team was trained on pathogen surveillance in wildlife, including safe and humane capture, holding, sampling, and release of animals, as well as sample cold chain, transport, and biosafety and personal protective equipment (PPE) use. This team went on to sample over 5,000 bats and several hundred rodents to increase understanding of viral circulation patterns in West Africa, including a focus on Ebola virus. In 2019, government partners in neighboring Côte d’Ivoire expressed their interest in strengthening wildlife surveillance capacity. To support development of this capacity, the PREDICT Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire teams co-led a training at the Abidjan Zoo in June 2019, with the trainers from Liberia team providing hands-on training in bat and rodent sampling.

Liberia is a diverse nation with a wide variety of tribal, cultural, and religious practices, where the majority of the population depend on the forest and its resources for their livelihood. Such interactions with the forest environment put people at risk of contracting zoonotic diseases that may spill over from animals. However, widely spread beliefs that traditionalists, witches, wizards, and even spirits have the ability to cast diseases upon people continue to hamper the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and control of many diseases. Under the PREDICT-2 project, Liberian One Health experts trained in health, conservation, and social sciences conducted biological and behavioral surveys, followed by community outreach that improved awareness and acceptance of zoonotic disease risk reduction practices. Using the ‘Living Safely with Bats’ book, this outreach also reinforced biodiversity protection and animal welfare. Its success was enabled by trust, awareness, and a strong evidence base.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which is widely recognized as originating in a market selling live wildlife in China, has caused the deaths of millions of people and major impacts on livelihoods, society, and economies across the world. Conditions increasing risk for emergence of zoonoses from wildlife are not unique to China. They are prevalent in wild animal value chains across the globe, including in Viet Nam, where wildlife is commonly traded for meat, pets, skins, traditional medicine, and for display in private collections. Disease surveillance along wildlife trade chains in Viet Nam has increased awareness of potential public health risks, but much trade continues and the risk of zoonoses’ emergence and transmission remains. An increasing body of scientific data supports multi-sectoral coordination and an evidence-based approach to strengthening policy on illegal wildlife trade (IWT) in Viet Nam to address the risk of zoonotic spillover, with resulting co-benefits for biodiversity and human health. 

In September 2022 a training was held in Vietnam’s Cúc Phương National Park on the recently developed IUCN guidance on Prevention, Detection, Response and Recovery from Disease Risks in Protected and Conserved Areas and accompanying One Health Principles for Sustainable Tourism. The training was designed for professionals, wildlife handlers and park rangers to introduce the One Health concept, IUCN guidance, sampling, human safety, risk assessment, biosafety, personal protective equipment (PPE), and biohazard waste disposal. Forty participants from Cát Tiên, Pù Mát and Cúc Phương National Parks took part in the two-day training. The field experience and expertise of the training team and adaptation to the relevant context ensured practical application of the guidance. Sessions such as the ‘Glo Germ’ test, demonstrating the importance of proper PPE donning and doffing and handwashing procedures, helped make the training interactive and reinforce key concepts.

Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis) are Africa’s most endangered carnivore, with approximately 500 individuals remaining along the country’s Afroalpine habitat, approximately half of which are found in the Bale Mountains. While habitat loss is a major threat to species survival, infectious disease epizootics have had serious impacts on wolf populations. Since 1992, the wolves in the Bale Mountains have faced eight major outbreaks from rabies and canine distemper viruses. Outbreaks are prompted by introduction of the viruses from domestic dogs. The density and social nature of the wolves allow for rapid virus transmission amongst and between packs; concerningly, outbreaks have resulted in extinctions of entire packs. To effectively manage this threat, the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme and its partners have developed and applied a comprehensive conservation strategy, including preventive and reactive vaccination and disease monitoring in line with a One Health approach.

In one of the world’s hotspots for zoonotic epidemics, the Congo Basin, WWF Germany has contributed significantly to the establishment of an early warning system for zoonotic pathogen outbreaks.

In two ecotourism sites, Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas (Central African Republic) and Campo Ma’an National Park (Cameroon), WWF has been following a One Health approach since 2012, which takes into account wildlife and human health as well as intact natural habitats. From the beginning, WWF has been working closely with the Robert Koch-Institute (since 2021: Helmholtz Institute for One Health, HIOH).

The goal of the One Health Program is to establish a health monitoring system for people, wildlife and their habitat that benefits the local population in terms of their health and natural livelihoods. The aim is to rapidly detect the spread of zoonotic pathogens in order to establish an early warning system for disease outbreaks (including Ebola, monkeypox and anthrax).