Swiss expertise in international policy
Nowhere in the world is as much research per capita conducted on One Health as in Switzerland. Nor, as a policy brief by the Institute of Global Health notes, exist as many organisations that engage with One Health anywhere else.
The COVID-19 pandemic took a toll of almost seven million human lives in a span of just over three years and caused a number of humanitarian and socioeconomic crises. In recent years, this has led to heightened interest in international relations about the One Health approach to the integrated prevention, surveillance and control of newly emerging zoonotic pathogens. Even so, One Health still fails to find explicit mention in important international pandemic-related agreements.
Research and diplomatic know-how
"Traditionally, measures to control epidemics and pandemics have focused on a targeted response, which is of course crucial", says Rafael Ruiz de Castañeda, co-lead of the One Health Unit at the Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva. "But preventive action is often neglected." One Health is especially significant in this context because measures to prevent transmission are applied at the human-animal-environment interface.
A meta-analysis of national and international initiatives at the science-policy interface for controlling novel zoonotic infectious diseases was carried out by Ruiz de Castañeda for the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). He was supported by 30 Swiss and international One Health experts. The results were published in a 27-page policy brief in September 2022.
"Switzerland is a hub of scientific excellence and diplomatic tradition," says Ruiz de Castañeda. "So, it is uniquely placed to promote global health." The underlying conditions for Switzerland to assume an active role in One Health are very promising. The headquarters of the World Health Organisation (WHO) are located in Geneva. Over 400 NGOs are based in Switzerland, many of which are active in global health issues. Promoting global health through the One Health approach is also a priority for Swiss development cooperation.
The Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) is a pioneering institution in Switzerland that has been conducting research on One Health interventions in the Global South for decades. No other country published as much per capita on One Health as Switzerland did in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was corroborated through a bibliometric analysis by the authors of the policy brief. Ruiz de Castañeda maintains that Switzerland has the ‘perfect cocktail’ to drive the One Health approach at the international level.
Role of international cooperation
The COVID-19 crisis demonstrated that developing countries are hit hardest by the impacts of a pandemic. Healthcare systems that are already fragile are brought to the brink of collapse, and poverty is exacerbated. The authors therefore make recommendations for strengthening both Swiss expertise in research and diplomatic instruments for international cooperation in pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. These include actions to reinforce an interdisciplinary dialogue between all relevant stakeholders; providing One Health training to diplomats; and making online courses (MOOCs) on One Health freely accessible worldwide.
Ruiz de Castañeda notes that experts from the Global South must in future be more closely involved in global discussions on pandemic prevention. "The most interesting examples of practical One Health measures for public health are to be found there," he says. "Success stories must be widely shared because we can learn a lot from them."
He also believes that there is room for improvement in the allocation of Swiss funding for research. An analysis of projects funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) in 2020 and 2021 revealed that most research funding for COVID-19 prevention was channelled into human medicine, specifically biological and medical sciences. Social science concerns, which are central to transdisciplinary One Health approaches, were addressed in just 23 of 125 projects that were analysed.
It also emerged that out of 28 international research collaborations only six were with countries in the Global South, even though many potential reservoirs of zoonotic spillover are located in these countries, and their populations are most affected by the impacts of epidemics and pandemics. "Infectious diseases and pandemics know no borders," says Ruiz de Castañeda. "Research and One Health policy initiatives must be coordinated and aligned in light of this."
One Health at the federal level
With the entry into force of the new Epidemics Act in 2016, a ‘One Health sub-body’ was created comprising experts from federal offices, cantons, the armed forces and the research community. In August 2023, the Federal Council approved a report on Switzerland’s international cooperation efforts to control zoonoses. The report was prepared in response to a postulate from the National Council’s Foreign Policy Committee. Drawing on the conclusions of the policy brief (see main text) as well as other studies and findings, the Federal Council’s report describes the importance of a holistic approach to zoonoses and a concerted international response. Cooperation at the federal level will be further strengthened to optimise implementation of the One Health approach. All relevant stakeholders, including the scientific community and civil society, will be involved. The report notes that Swiss international cooperation is well-placed to meet these challenges.
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