The Network for Evaluation of One Health: evidence-based added value of One Health

T he concept of ‘One Health’ aims at approaching zoonotic diseases from a complex systems thinking perspective, encompassing local to global implications, a continuum of timescales, and the interactions between different sectors influencing the occurrence of such diseases. The Network for Evaluation of One Health (NEOH), which is funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST), is an open network that brings together experts, researchers and policymakers from diverse backgrounds interested in the subject. NEOH aims to address the questions ‘does One Health work?’ and ‘is One Health worthwhile?’ and to generate a standardized evidence-based framework on the added value of addressing zoonotic diseases from a One Health perspective that would motivate and encourage enablers and value chain actors to apply methods at the relevant scale. The overall objective of NEOH is to enable appropriate evaluations of One Health interventions through the elaboration of a methodological framework and guide. This will allow the comparison of results between different interventions on zoonotic diseases using the same methodological approach. In addition, it will point out the most cost-effective alternatives, helping the decisionmaking process and public health policy formulation. NEOH will deliver 1) A science-based, standardized framework for the evaluation of interventions on zoonotic diseases; 2) a suite of example evaluations following the framework developed through NEOH; 3) a networked community of experts collaborating to assess the value of One Health; and 4) a pool of early-stage researchers trained in performing evaluations of One Health activities. The first activity of the network, which was launched in November 2014, was the development of a roadmap for the design of an evaluation protocol and guidelines. These will then be applied to several case studies across different regions. Through the NEOH members, a metaanalysis of the case studies will be performed. COST is a unique means for European researchers, engineers, and scholars to jointly develop their own ideas and new initiatives across all fields of science and technology. COST, through its ‘Actions’, exclusively funds the networking activities but not the research in itself, which should be funded through other sources. The main Action activities are organized into four working groups (WGs) (see flowchart below), each comprising a mix of expert members from both social and natural sciences.