The unfolding COVID-19 outbreak thus presents an opportunity to establish a real-time monitoring infrastructure to study and promote the embedding of One Health principles within the national and global governance of Infectious Diseases (ID).
Our main objective is to improve evidence-based decision-making in the public health response to COVID-19, and enhance international collaborative efforts to mitigate its spread using a One Health approach.
We will analyze different aspects of the global response to COVID-19 under each of Global 1HN’s four Research Enabling Platforms (REPs):
REP 1 – ONE HEALTH SURVEILLANCE
Under REP 1 we are collaborating with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to immediately implement a novel (event-based) ID surveillance system using social media data to develop an algorithm capable to detect the introduction and spread of IDs in Canada, especially COVID-19-like infections.
REP 2 – ONE HEALTH POLICY RESPONSE
To better understand how government-sponsored research is interacting with commercial exploitation for IDs that have pandemic potential, like COVID-19, we are undertaking a rapid environmental scan of funding/ownership in the evolution of zoonotic ID outbreaks. This study may also inform licensing conditions for COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.
REP 3 – THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONS
We are conducting a rapid environmental scan of the regulatory environment of wild animal markets, using a scoping literature review, document analysis, and key informant interviews.
This analysis will enable the identification of novel regulations, which could be implemented at the global and national levels to address and reduce the likelihood of future zoonotic infection transmission.
REP 4 – ENSURING EQUITY IN THE COVID-19 POLICY RESPONSE
We are conducting a rapid environmental scan to assess to what extent equity concerns are present in any of the communications and operational response by WHO and other actors coordinating the response to COVID-19 at the global level. We are also developing recommendations for how equity could become more effectively integrated into the COVID-19 response.
REP 1 Supervisor Hélène Carabin (Université de Montréal)
REP 2 Supervisors Aidan Hollis and Reed Beall (University of Calgary)
REP 3 Supervisor Mary Wiktorowicz (York University)
REP 4 Supervisor Ronald Labonté (University of Ottawa)