Economic methods and spatial scales in One Health: Results from a scoping review

COVID-19 and other zoonoses indicate the close connection between human, animal, and environmental health. This interdependency underscores the need for a comprehensive One Health approach. However, the One Health concept is sometimes reduced to combating zoonoses and antimicrobial resistance, neglecting the spatial and environmental dimensions. This narrow focus overlooks the potential of One Health in geographic contexts, where it can optimize health within regional ecosystems. Therefore, this paper aims to provide an overview of geographic contexts and economic approaches to measuring One Health and the importance of these factors for effective health outcomes.

A comprehensive search for economic evidence and the geographical scope of One Health was conducted. The search terms 'One Health', combined with 'region, landscape, area, geography, cost, economics, utility,' were used in Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed. Articles were screened by two blinded reviewers. Year, author, economic method, intervention, outcome, study aim, topic, and geographical area of the articles were recorded.

1214 articles were retrieved and 108 were included in this analysis. The topics focused on: zoonoses (56 %), antimicrobial resistance (14 %), food safety/security (7 %), animal welfare (6 %), and governance (6 %). Most studies were conducted in African countries, the majority of studies (57 %) adopted a regional perspective, while 19 % employed a national and 13 % adopted a multi-country perspective. The most common economic approaches were mixed methods and CEA, regression analysis, as well as index methods.

The analyzed articles largely focus on zoonoses and current measurement instruments that do not yet align with the requirements of the One Health Joint Plan of Action 2022-26. Integrating geographical considerations promises a more comprehensive and effective approach to One Health challenges. The diversity of identified measurement instruments provides a valuable foundation for developing future, context-sensitive One Health strategies.