Poster by H. Nguyen-Viet, J. Gilbert, Dinh Xuan Tung, H. Mallee, F. Unger and D. Grace presented at the 10-year anniversary of the Veterinary Public Health Center for Asian Pacific conference, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 2-6 July 2013.

1. EcoHealth research in South East Asia:
past, present, and ways forward
Nguyen Viet Hung1,2, Jeff Gilbert2, Dinh Xuan Tung3, Hein Mallee4, Fred Unger2, Delia Grace2
1CENPHER, Hanoi School of Public Health, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, Kenya
3Nantional Institute of Animal Sciences, Hanoi, Vietnam, 3Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan
EcoHealth is a comprehensive and integrative conceptualisation of health as an outcome of the
complex relation of human, animal and environment systems. Although it was only introduced
in South East Asia (SEA) in the 2000’s by IDRC, its development in the region shows a dynamic
evolution in research and widening application to various fields such as emerging and zoonotic
diseases, agriculture and health, and, education and training. We review ecohealth activities in
SEA over the last 10 years to capture the lessons learned and challenges as well as evaluating
the future of Ecohealth in the region.
Methods
1. We analysed all the EcoHealth programmes, initiatives
and projects (now called projects) that have been being
implemented in the past 10 years with support of IDRC in
SEA.
Results
The results showed that generally, EcoHealth has been
well perceived and taken up by partners, in particular
academia, policy makers and communities and it has
generated some good research results in the field of
zoonotic and emerging diseases.
Some projects focused purely on capacity, others on
research or both.
EcoEID
Main ecohealth project in South East Asia
 APEIR: Asian Partnership on Emerging Infectious Diseases Research
 BECA: Building Capacity in Ecohealth for SEA
 EcoEID: Ecohealth Emerging Infectious Diseases Research in SEA
 EcoZD: Ecosystem Approaches to the Better Management of Zoonotic
Emerging Infectious Diseases in SEA
 FBLI: Field Building Leadership Initiative in SEA
2. The level of EcoHealth characterised by how much
“ecohealth content” was analysed using main principles
of ecohealth published by Charron (2011).
Ecohealth course jointly held by
EcoZD and FBLI in Hanoi, May 2013
FBLI fieldwork in Hanam,
December 2012
However, challenges remain at the project design and
implementation level but also on the available capacity
and coordination to develop EcoHealth research and
teams in the countries as well as the issue of scaling-up.
The way forward from a regional perspective
Research: more integrated and practically oriented case
studies of EcoHealth are needed.
Training: degree training and short course in Ecohealth to
expand knowledge to mainstream practitioners.
Policy translation: sensitize policy makers to EcoHealth
and good advocacy to apply EcoHealth
Conclusion
Main pillars of Ecohealth
EcoHealth is a good approach to deal with complex
problems of health and environment. Further incentive
based application at all levels are need to promote the
use of EcoHealth.
Center for Public Health and Ecosystem Research (CENPHER), Hanoi School of Public Health
138 Giang Vo, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, Vietnam, T: (+84) 4.62733162, F: (+84) 4.62733172