Why was this program created?
The Canadian One Health Training Program on Emerging Zoonoses (COHTPEZ) was primarily created to develop a connected community of highly skilled researchers, professionals, and leaders in various disciplines. Together they will work, collaborate, and innovate to build sustainable and resilient integrated health systems, and accelerate the implementation of One Health to better prevent and respond to current and future threats caused by emerging zoonotic pathogens, including viruses, fungi, parasites, and bacteria, among others.
Why is this program needed?
Emerging infectious diseases, public health emergencies of international concern, epidemics, and pandemics are predominantly zoonotic in origin and affect different populations and groups inequitably. Over 70% of emerging pathogens originate from a wildlife source, and can significantly impact animal and human health, food security, ecological sustainability, and the economy. The recent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic and the emergence of other high-consequence and vector-borne zoonotic pathogens have underscored the global impact of emerging infectious diseases and the critical need to prevent and better prepare for zoonotic disease outbreaks. Reducing pandemic risk at source requires identifying and addressing the drivers of emergence and re-emergence of disease at the human-animal-environment interface, monitoring pathogens with spillover potential (surveillance), reducing amplification (transmission and spread) of zoonotic pathogens in new hosts and locations, and mitigating the physical, social, and environmental health impacts of zoonotic agents and the diseases they cause. It requires improved coordination, collaboration, and communication among many sectors, and a better understanding of the policies, roles and responsibilities among the sectors and agencies responsible for different components of human, animal and ecosystem health. The interactions and relationships between pathogens, hosts, and ecosystems behave as complex adaptive systems, meaning that behaviour of the whole and the sub-components is dynamic, unpredictable, open to impacts from other systems, and able to self-organize into new states (transformation). The consequences of actions taken to prevent and respond to emerging zoonoses are also unpredictable and can have unintended consequences because of the interdependence and inequities within and between human, animal and ecosystem health.
To respond to these challenges, the COHTPEZ will facilitate the potential to create a cohesive and collaborative workforce that is ready to act to protect humans, animals and ecosystems in Canada and globally from the next zoonotic threats.