Increased Food Security in Southeast Asia from One Health and Integrated Agriculture

The responses so far to emerging infectious diseases have focused primarily on short term control-based interventions targeting single EIDs rather than longer-term sustainable multidisciplinary solutions that address precipitating factors. The midterm evaluation of the Government of Vietnam-UN Joint Program on Avian Influenza indicates that wider knowledge of the Ecohealth Approach is needed to integrate management roles relating to the interfaces of animals, humans, and the environment. Importantly, this must be directed at EIDs in general, rather than (e.g.) HPAI or H1N. Evidence-based multidisciplinary research is needed to show increased productivity of livestock, improved village level nutrition, reduced risk of EIDs, and better understanding of the impact from addressing livestock disease on ecohealth and food security in Asia. This fundamental change in approaches to disease control needs to be supported with policy-based advocacy addressing multidisciplinary approaches to health management.