Challenging Standards and Paradigms to Support Animal Disease Prevention and Control

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Background

Despite progress made in the control of many diseases, and on the incorporation of science-based solutions to emerging health challenges, much work still needs to be done. Animal diseases, and thus, their prevention and control, may be considered complex systems, therfore, there is a need for integration of transdisciplinary teams to understand, model, and modify the behavior of the system.

Intergovernmental organizations with a mission relevant to animal health and production, such as the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recognize the need for improving the use and application of epidemiology and social sciences tools (including, for example, diagnostic, data analysis and risk assessments, and communication) in relevant stakeholders with the ultimate goal of managing zoonotic and high impact diseases of animals and humans. Additionally, the need for following and implementing science-based approaches is recognized by the three organizations in a variety of documents – see, for example, the tripartite concept note on sharing responsibilities and coordinating global activities to address health risks at the animal-human-ecosystems interfaces (https://www.who.int/foodsafety/zoonoses/final_concept_note_Hanoi.pdf?ua=1).

Science is dynamic in nature and, for that reason, there is a need to regularly review and revise standards, and to account for advancements and new scientific developments. Intergovernmental organizations recognize such need and have developed strategies to regularly update guidelines, recommendations, and standards. For example, the OIE’s scientific commission for animal diseases was created since the very inception of the organization in 1946, “to provide scientific guidance to the OIE on the development of policies relating to the assessment and control of diseases, notably those with the potential to affect trade in terrestrial animals and their products or affect human health.”

Frontiers in Veterinary Science invites the submission of papers aimed at challenging standards and paradigms to support animal disease prevention and control and improve the effectiveness of policy. We will consider for publication; original research, perspective, hypothesis and theory, conceptual analysis, and opinion papers that are forward-looking, innovative, or that assess the broader need for multidisciplinary in decision making in animal health. Examples of topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

- Trade offs and incentives in animal disease, particularly papers that demonstrate or propose their application to support prevention and control
- Revisiting or proposing changes or alternative views to international regulations, guidelines, recommendations, and policy
- Use and application of quantitative epidemiology methods, such as modeling or risk analysis, to propose changes in regulation or promotion of approved tools that have only been incidentally adopted by the international community, such as compartmentalization or commodity-based trade.
- Integration of social and biological sciences to provide a more in-depth understanding of complex systems around animal health and disease

Keywords: animal disease, zoonosis, health risks, animal-human-ecosystems interfaces, prevention and control, policy

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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