One Health Surveillance: perceived benefits and workforce motivations

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Veterinary Medicine
• Environmental Science

Background:

• One Health Surveillance (OHS) integrates animal, human, and environmental health sectors.
• OHS aims to improve health outcomes through data collection and information sharing.

Purpose of the Study:

• Assess current OHS practices and capabilities within the biosurveillance community.
• Evaluate attitudes towards OHS and identify motivating factors for its implementation.
• Understand challenges and priorities for improving OHS.

Main Methods:

• Survey of 185 biosurveillance professionals across 44 nations.
• Convenience sampling across multiple domains and countries.
• Analysis of OHS implementation, perceived value, capacity, and improvement priorities.

Main Results:

• Over 85% of respondents view OHS as beneficial, with consistent value perception across domains and income groups.
• More than 50% of professionals currently apply OHS practices.
• Data access challenges were most frequent, with electronic data exchange identified as the top improvement priority.

Conclusions:

• OHS is widely perceived as valuable, with significant current adoption.
• Inter-domain data access and electronic data sharing are critical barriers to OHS effectiveness.
• Low- and middle-income countries show higher motivation for OHS improvement, highlighting resource and training needs.