Author: ibeange

Our NEOH colleague, Daniele De Meneghi, Dept. Veterinary Sciences, Univ. of Turin (Italy) participated in the symposium “Una Salud para el logro del desarollo sostenible”, Univerdidad de La Salle, Bogotà (Colombia), 9th ° November, 2017
https://www.lasalle.edu.co/Calendario/eventos_academicos/simposio-una- salud

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The event, which was slightly delayed from the official date for the celebration of the International One Health, was organized by the colleagues Luis Carlos Villamil and Natalia Cediel, Grupo de Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Fac. Medicina Veterinaria (https://www.lasalle.edu.co/medicina-veterinaria) to bring together professionals, students and stakeholders to share thoughts on how One Health approach
could contribute to sustainable development within the peace process presently going on in Colombia.

It was a good opportunity to divulgate the activities carried out by NEOH and present
the opportunities for International collaboration offered by COST.

The following topics were presented:

FIRST RESULTS FROM THE JOINT NEOH AND EURNEGVEC EUROPEAN SURVEY TO EXPLORE THE COLLABORATION BETWEEN HUMAN, ANIMAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SECTORS IN EU COST MEMBER COUNTRIES, ASSOCIATED AND NEAR-NEIGHBOUR COUNTRIES”

and

“ONE HEALTH APPROACH” IN DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION PROJECTS – USE OF ACARICIDES TO CONTROL TICKS IN AFRICA: IMPLICATIONS IN PUBLIC HEALTH & ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH “ (this is one of the NEOH case study which was evaluated, and submitted for publication to Frontiers in Public Health).

Download the October edition of the Belgian OneHealth – EcoHealth Newsletter here

CONTENTS
Events in Belgium

1. Guest lecture Working with Models of Ageing – Entanglements of Human and Animal Health and Wellbeing
2. Climate change and health conference – Federal Council for Sustainable
   Development
3. ASCID Evening Symposium on Tick-borne Diseases
4. Day of Environmental Health at the School for Public Health
5. 30 year anniversary celebration of the Institute for Environment and Sustainable
   development

International Events

1. Registration open for Healthy Urban Living – H2020 Health Matchmaking & Infoday
2. Info Day on Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing
3. The International Society for Economics and Social Sciences of Animal Health
   Conference

International Publications

1. Call for Papers: Medicines for the Anthropocene: Health on a Finite Planet
2. Agrobiodiversity Investments as Triple Win for Health, Environment and Food
   System Sustainability
3. Botanic Gardens: Using Biodiversity to Improve Human Well-being

Interview
“3 questions to” Thierry van den Berg, Operational director Animal infectious
diseases at CODA-CERVA

The first article in the NEOH special topic in Frontiers has been published: 

The Degree of One Health Implementation in the West Nile Virus Integrated Surveillance in Northern Italy, 2016

Paternoster Giulia, Tomassone Laura, Tamba Marco et al
Frontiers in Public Health (2017), 5: 236
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2017.00236     ISSN=2296-2565

West Nile virus (WNV) is endemic in the Po valley area, Northern Italy, and within the legal framework of the national plan for the surveillance of human vector-borne diseases, WNV surveillance has over time been implemented.

The surveillance plans are based on the transdisciplinary and trans-sectorial collaboration between regional institutions involved in public, animal, and environmental health. This integrated surveillance targets mosquitoes, wild birds, humans, and horses, and aims at early detecting the viral circulation and reducing the risk of infection in the human populations.

The objective of our study was to assess the degree of One Health implementation (One Health-ness) of the WNV surveillance system in three North Italian regions (Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont) in 2016, following the evaluation protocol developed by the Network for Evaluation of One Health (NEOH).

In detail, we
(i) described the OH initiative (drivers, outcomes) and its system (boundaries, aim, dimensions, actors, stakeholders) and
(ii) scored different aspects of this initiative (i.e. OH -thinking, -planning, -sharing, -learning, transdisciplinarity and leadership), with values from zero (= no OH approach) to one (= perfect OH approach).

We obtained a mean score for each aspect evaluated. We reached high scores for OH thinking (0.90) and OH planning (0.89). Lower scores were attributed to OH sharing (0.83), transdisciplinarity and leadership (0.77) and OH learning (0.67), highlighting some critical issues related to communication and learning gaps.

The strengths and weaknesses detected by the described quantitative evaluation will be investigated in detail by a qualitative evaluation (process evaluation), aiming to provide a basis for the development of shared recommendations to refine the initiative and conduct it in a more One Health oriented perspective.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2017.00236/full

The Belgian Biodiversity Platform website has been revamped!

It is now easier than ever to get to know what they are currently working on and how this can be relevant to you!

As a science-policy interface, they act as knowledge broker in several ways and at various levels (national, European, and international). The also provide scientists, policy-makers, practitioners and other stakeholders, the opportunity to incubate their knowledge with other experts on topical issues (eg. Invasive Alien Species (IAS), Ecosystems & Society (BEES), Biodiversity & Health (CoPBH), Nature-based Solutions (NbS), etc.) Furthermore, we are very active in the mobilisation and publication of biodiversity data!

Discover their new resources section with recommendations and videos! Make sure to check their tips and tools page offering a myriad of practical information and tips to ease your work as a scientist, policy-maker or practitioner. And don’t miss their News section featuring news related to biodiversity research and policy; and their Events page offering an overview of upcoming events in Belgium and worldwide.

Get all the information about them, meet the team, and don’t hesitate to contact them!