Scientific project
Health as a global public good
Considered a global public good, animal health contributes to both livestock production for the food security of populations, especially the most disadvantaged, and to public health by reducing the impact of zoonotic diseases. Taking a ‘One Health/Ecohealth’ approach, health also means preserving ecological dynamics and the ecosystem services that depend on them.
The unit’s ambition is to provide solutions to the health constraints encountered in Southern countries, particularly with regard to animal production (domestic and wild) and the human-animal-environment interface, by studying health within evolving socio-ecosystems and providing tools to better understand, monitor and manage it.
It addresses the major determinants of animal health such as animal and human mobility and more generally the intensification of trade and production systems; the evolution of governance systems; local and global environmental changes - including climate change, technological innovations and agro-ecological and territorial transitions.
Integrated approaches
The unit proposes the development of integrated approaches for managing the health risks associated with domestic or wild animals at the interface between humans, animals and the environment:
- Multidisciplinary approaches: The combination of medical, biological, human and mathematical sciences throughout the scientific process - definition of research questions, development of protocols and strategies, development of tools and methods, analysis of results - is essential when dealing with the complexity of ecosystems and the physical, biological and societal processes that contribute to the phenomena of the introduction, emergence, endemisation and resistance of health risks.
- Multi-scale approaches: The processes associated with a given disease in its environment are studied from the microscopic scale (pathogen), to that of the individual (host or vector), of the population, of the socio-ecosystem, up to the analysis of mechanisms for collective action and public policies.
- Multi-stakeholder approaches: Strengthened by its national and international collaborations and its partnerships with countries in the South, the unit aims to meet the expectations of all stakeholders. These range from the food security of small farmers, through the agricultural economy of nations and to public health and reducing the risks of the transboundary spread of pathogens.
Three strategic research topics
The unit’s scientific ambitions are based on three key research lines:
- Characterisation of pathosystems and episystems at the level of the organism/individual and the population
- Integration of organisms and populations in the socio-ecosystem
- Disease surveillance and control, health management