Benefits of a one health approach: An example using Rift Valley fever

This integrated approach to management and understanding of human, animal, and environmental determinants of disease has been identified as integral to achieving health security against infectious disease threats. The Global Health Security Agenda specifically highlights One Health as a key component in preventing and controlling zoonotic diseases. Despite strong overall interest in One Health, country-, local-, and project-level implementation remains limited, likely due to the lack of pragmatic and tested operational methods for implementation and metrics for evaluation. To address this gap, researchers have examined the benefits of a One Health approach using Rift Valley fever virus as an example. Rift Valley fever virus is a vector-borne zoonosis that occurs as periodic yet severe outbreaks, impacting the health of people, their livestock, and socio-economic outcomes. Simulations based on recent published reports of RVF virus exposure have illustrated how a One Health platform improves the probability of detecting associations that could be important for improving public health. The simulations demonstrated that coordinated, a priori investigations between One Health sectors can yield higher statistical power to elucidate important public health relationships compared to siloed investigations and post-hoc analyses. The results of these analyses demonstrate that One Health approaches can be directly and tangibly applied to health investigations. The One Health approach may also improve resource efficiency. The Understanding Rift Valley Fever in Republic of South Africa Project is a U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency-funded study that is simultaneously evaluating various factors, including weather/climate, vegetation, soil, vector populations, ruminant host exposures, and human risk factors. Transport costs for the One Health epidemiological study of RVFV in South Africa were evaluated between October 2014 and January 2016. The study found that the One Health approach resulted in improved resource efficiency, with resultant cost savings of 35% in the presented case. The One Health approach has been shown to improve the understanding of RVF epidemiological dynamics and inform risk mitigation or control measures. The approach can also improve resource efficiency and reduce costs. The results of these analyses demonstrate that One Health approaches can be directly and tangibly applied to health investigations, improving public health outcomes and reducing the economic burden of zoonotic diseases.