One Health, multiple impacts: a review of 10 years of One Health work in Bangladesh and the region with a focus on the poultry industry in Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh has been promoting “One Health” with an emphasis on zoonotic diseases. Bangladesh has a significant poultry industry that plays a crucial role in the country's economy and food security. This study analyses the results and lessons learned from implementing One Health strategy in Bangladesh and its neighbouring region over ten years. It also suggests One Health approaches to improve health security more efficiently especially focusing the poultry industry. Scoping reviews were used to determine Bangladesh's inclusion and exclusion criteria and those of selected documents from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, United States of America, United Kingdom and Australia. A customised and semi-structured interview with 32 key One Health informants from 10 countries assessed the approach's effectiveness for addressing emerging diseases and antimicrobial resistance. Bangladesh has achieved significant progress in institutionalising One Health compared to the other countries studied. Bangladesh has a dedicated One Health coordinating framework with assigned responsibilities. Bangladesh has advanced One Health networking nationally and internationally also. But the development of these One Health working bodies has not yet led to extensive community-level initiatives. Identifying additional working areas at different levels was addressed through the key informant interviews. In relation to One Health, there is a lack of communication with the general public as well as between the various sectors. Typical challenges that emerged included inadequate collaboration among stakeholders, funding incompatibility, and limited availability of evidence-based research and One Health practices. Poultry zoonotic disease monitoring and early detection, as well as integrated outbreak investigation and surveillance, are all now occurring and should be expanded. The current state and our desired state of the integrated data management system differ significantly. Thus, Bangladesh needs to establish local One Health teams and improve inter-sectoral communication and public awareness like other countries. To maximise the success of One Health initiatives in poultry sector, we require cohesive coordination systems to promote timely knowledge management about preventive practices among farmers