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Developing science-based solutions to prevent pandemics & promote conservation.

🇧🇷🌴🐆Today’s #FieldWorkFriday takes u

🇧🇷🌴🐆Today’s #FieldWorkFriday takes us to Brazil, where Dr. Paula Prist, Senior Research Scientist, is working on one of our newest projects, investigating the impact of forest restoration on zoonotic disease risk. ⁠
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The Brazilian Atlantic Forest was once one of the largest forests in the Western Hemisphere, but today retains less than a third of its original area. Human-driven land use change has created a patchwork of small forest fragments and plunged this region into ecological crisis. #Deforestation not only destroys habitat for plant and animal species, but increases the risk of zoonotic disease by bringing humans and animals into more frequent contact. Land use change can be linked to more than 40% of emerging infectious diseases, and research in the Brazilian Amazon has shown that every square kilometer of forest cleared can lead to dozens of new malaria cases.⁠
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Forest restoration has become increasingly recognized as essential in renewing ecosystem services, from cleaning our water to cooling the planet. Healthier, intact forests can also help mitigate the risk of disease spillover from animals, preventing future pandemics.⁠
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Our researchers are investigating just how significant forest restoration efforts are when it comes to reducing levels of zoonotic disease risk and restoring ecosystem services. This essential #OneHealth work will inform future conservation efforts in the region while providing critical support to global forest restoration and pandemic prevention efforts. Check out the link in our bio for more details!⁠
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This work is supported by the National Science Foundation, and is done in collaboration with the Biota Synthesis working group.

🇻🇳🌴🦠 This week’s #FieldWorkFriday co

🇻🇳🌴🦠 This week’s #FieldWorkFriday comes to us from Vietnam!

Dr. Cadhla Firth, Senior Research Scientist and Program Coordinator, is in the field working with our local partners to get ahead of the next pandemic.

Southeast Asia is one of the world’s highest-risk disease hotspots and home to the origin of the 2002 SARS outbreak, repeated outbreaks of novel influenza strains, and dangerous viral pathogens like Nipah virus. This is driven by high levels of wildlife diversity and a rapidly expanding human footprint that brings people and animals into frequent close contact. Substantial evidence has shown that diverse families of viruses are circulating in wildlife in Southeast Asia. These viruses likely infect people regularly, but are often unreported or misdiagnosed, and as such their potential to cause pandemics is unknown and underestimated.

This project takes a cross-disciplinary, collaborative approach, working closely with scientists, governments, and local communities in Vietnam. The results, stemming from a focus on virology, ecology, and community surveys, will serve to better anticipate future virus emergence, design public health interventions, and make it possible to disrupt outbreaks at the earliest instances of community spread.

🦇🌳🌏️ The Western Asia Bat Research Netw

🦇🌳🌏️ The Western Asia Bat Research Network (or WAB-Net for short) is a multinational research initiative that seeks to enhance both the #conservation of bats and the early detection of #zoonoticdiseases. ⁠
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The network coordinates #research in seven countries, focusing on bats, zoonotic diseases, and host-virus dynamics.⁠
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It’s also one of EcoHealth Alliance’s featured solutions on PANORAMA, an initiative focused on showcasing and sharing inspiring conservation and sustainable development solutions. It enables practitioners from various fields to exchange experiences, gain recognition for their successful work, and learn from global examples, with opportunities for expanding partnerships. Read more about this amazing work at the link in our bio! ⁠
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#batconservation #diseaseresearch #wabnet #onehealth⁠
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This work is supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

🇬🇳🌴🐀 Happy #FieldworkFriday, direct fr

🇬🇳🌴🐀 Happy #FieldworkFriday, direct from Guinea!

Dr. Marc Valitutto, EcoHealth Alliance Field Veterinarian, is working to develop the new gold standard for biosafety in field work. This endeavor isn’t focused just on researcher safety, but also ensures the highest standards of animal welfare.

When we establish and adhere to high standards of field biosafety, we can accomplish many goals at once. Not only are we continuing our work to prevent pandemics before they emerge, but in doing so, we are able to protect our field teams, local communities, and any animals involved in the project. Along with all of this, we have the opportunity to train teams on sample collection techniques.

With this project, we are able to ensure high quality, safe research practices that protect global public health – and prevent future pandemics.

This work is done in collaboration with @georgetown_ghss and is supported by the Elizabeth R. Griffin Foundation. 📸: M. Valitutto

🚗🌴🔬 Not the easiest commute for our scien

🚗🌴🔬 Not the easiest commute for our scientists in the field this week...

Aside from their expertise in conservation, medicine, and public health, our teams need to be quick on their feet. Field conditions can be unpredictable at the best of times, but we always make sure to keep our #OneHealh work moving forward! 📸: M. Valitutto

🌍🌴🏞️ The #ConservationWorks team repres

🌍🌴🏞️ The #ConservationWorks team representing at the 31st International Congress for Conservation Biology (@ICCB2023)!

The conference was a fantastic showcase for the pioneering #OneHealth work being done by EcoHealth Alliance and partners in Liberia to develop new protected forest areas and generate new, sustainable livelihoods in Liberian communities.

Conservation Works partners: @usaid, @liberiachimprescueprotection, @faunafloraint, @solimarint, #PADEV Partners in Development, and the Liberia Forestry Development Authority

🌍🌴🐁 EcoHealth Alliance scientists attende

🌍🌴🐁 EcoHealth Alliance scientists attended the World Congress of the International Association for Landscape Ecology in Nairobi this month!

IALE is a global organization of landscape ecologists dedicated to promoting international scientific collaboration and emphasizing the importance of landscape ecology in land management.

While there, our scientists presented on a wide range of topics, including the @USAID-funded Conservation Works in #Liberia, and how taking the #OneHealth approach to landscape ecology and management can make healthier environments for humans and all living things.

🌏🌎🌍 On #WorldNatureConservationDay, let’s celebrate the power of #OneHealth!

Conservation is a fundamental pillar of One Health, emphasizing the complex and important connections between the environment, ourselves, and all living creatures. When nature suffers, so do we. But when we protect it, we thrive together. Healthy ecosystems and wildlife are essential for preventing zoonotic diseases and safeguarding global health.

#WorldNatureConservationDay #OneHealth

🗺️🌾🤝 The 31st International Congress fo

🗺️🌾🤝 The 31st International Congress for Conservation Biology (@ICCB2023) is happening this week, hosted by the Society for Conservation Biology. EcoHealth Alliance will be there as a proud supporter of this influential event. ⁠
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Taking place in Kigali, Rwanda, #ICCB2023 will bring together conservationists, scientists, and stakeholders from around the globe to exchange knowledge, foster collaborations, and address pressing challenges facing our planet's biodiversity.⁠

The Conservation Works project will be represented at the conference as well; if you're attending ICCB 2023, we encourage you to connect with us!
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#ConservationBiology #Sustainability #ICCB2023⁠

Conservation Works partners: @usaid , @liberiachimprescueprotection , @faunafloraint , @solimarint , #PADEV Partners in Development, and the Liberia Forestry Development Authority

🔬🌿🗺️ The Conservation & Health team at

🔬🌿🗺️ The Conservation & Health team at EcoHealth Alliance is #hiring! ⁠
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They are searching for a postdoctoral ecologist or spatial ecologist with experience collecting ecological field data and analyzing the relationships between environmental variables, biodiversity, and disease emergence. Based in New York City, the position will involve international fieldwork. Visit the link in our bio for more information on the position, and how to apply!⁠
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#postdoc #researchjobs #postdocjobs

🌍💌 🌱 Join us on our journey towards promo

🌍💌 🌱 Join us on our journey towards promoting #OneHealth in Liberia! ⁠
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The newsletter for #ConservationWorks is here to shine a light on the vital link between human, animal, and environmental health. This project is working towards establishing new protected forest areas and developing sustainable livelihoods for communities in Liberia. Discover how we're working together to protect our planet, save lives, and create a healthier future for all by signing up at the link in our bio! ⁠
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🐿️❤️‍🩹👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Toda

🐿️❤️‍🩹👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Today is #WorldZoonosesDay, commemorating the first vaccination against rabies on July 6, 1885, by Louis Pasteur. ⁠
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Zoonotic disease remains a risk to humans and animals worldwide to this day. In areas where human populations come into high levels of contact with animals, it is essential to ensure responsible practices and behaviors to prevent zoonotic disease spillover from animal reservoirs to humans – keeping human and animal populations safe. ⁠
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"Living With Wildlife Through One Health," developed in-house at EcoHealth Alliance, aims to help people and animals worldwide. Available in five languages and counting, check out the book on our website, and be sure to fill out the survey at the link in our bio! ⁠
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#OneHealth #zoonoticdisease

🌴🦠👥 While the links between human-driven

🌴🦠👥 While the links between human-driven deforestation and increased disease spillover are becoming better understood, very few studies have looked at the opposite question – if deforestation is a potential driver of #zoonotic spillover, does ecological restoration have the potential to make landscapes healthier for humans?⁠
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In a recent paper, EcoHealth Alliance scientists reviewed the existing evidence linking native vegetation restoration with zoonotic transmission risk, and proposed #forestrestoration strategies that could help in limiting the spread of zoonotic diseases.⁠
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Read more about the research at the link in our bio. ⁠
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Do you know the best way to deal with a tick, or p

Do you know the best way to deal with a tick, or prevent a mosquito bite?⁠
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In South Africa, EcoHealth Alliance researchers have been investigating the ecology of numerous diseases spread by ticks and mosquitoes since 2014. This educational booklet, developed in collaboration with the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, the University of Pretoria, and the Agricultural Research Council, aims to safeguard the health of humans and animals alike. Read up on what diseases to watch out for while traveling, like Crimean-Congo fever and Rift Valley fever, and learn best practices to help keep you and your loved ones safe. ⁠
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Download the book at the link in our bio!⁠
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#OneHealth #diseaseecology⁠

👩🏽‍⚕️❤️‍🩹📄 Ensuring that e

👩🏽‍⚕️❤️‍🩹📄 Ensuring that employers value the unique characteristics of personnel trained in One Health requires demonstration of its usefulness, accreditation, and continuing professional development. ⁠
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In a new paper, EcoHealth Alliance scientists and collaborators measured interest in a competency-based One Health training for in-service professionals through a multi-sector stakeholder needs assessment. The assessment revealed the importance of various One Health topics across fundamental, technical, functional, and integrative domains, as well as highlighting barriers to use and access.⁠
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Read the full paper at the link in our bio!⁠
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#OneHealth #jobtraining #newpaper⁠

🐂🌾🏥 In Myanmar, zoonotic outbreaks are of

🐂🌾🏥 In Myanmar, zoonotic outbreaks are often precipitated by landscape-level factors common to developing regions, including increased trade and mobility, commercialization of agriculture and animal production, forest development, and ecotourism. ⁠
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At a community level, “high-risk behaviors” – sociocultural or occupational practices involving human-animal interactions – can predispose people to zoonotic disease risks. Myanmar is home to many at-risk communities, with those living on the margins of poverty disproportionately residing in rural areas. ⁠
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In a new paper, EcoHealth Alliance scientists employed a behavioral surveillance approach among high-risk communities to identify risk factors for pathogen spillover. Yadana et al. found that the odds of having reported unusual symptoms were higher among those involved in animal production and animal-involved livelihoods compared to non-animal-involved livelihoods. Their study provides important insight into community-level animal contact in a period prior to major behavioral changes during COVID-19. Read more at the link in our bio!⁠
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#southeastasia #onehealth #behavioralrisk #diseaseresearch⁠
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Photo: M. Valitutto, EcoHealth Alliance⁠

Ticks don’t just carry Lyme disease – worldwid

Ticks don’t just carry Lyme disease – worldwide, they are vectors for many dangerous illnesses. EcoHealth Alliance’s “Diseases Spread by Ticks” book provides an informative and concise guide to keeping yourself and others safe, developed by EcoHealth Alliance’s Health & Policy researchers in collaboration with Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute, Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency, University of Glasgow, and Washington State University. ⁠
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Read more at the link in our bio. ⁠
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#OneHealth #vectorecology #diseaseecology #tickbornediseases⁠

🔥🌴🌲 "We can save lives and health by doin

🔥🌴🌲 "We can save lives and health by doing something that is both highly effective and relatively simple."⁠
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While much of the eastern United States is blanketed in wildfire smoke, let's take a moment to revisit this work by EcoHealth Alliance senior scientist Dr. Paula Prist. Dr. Prist's recent paper, "Protecting Brazilian Amazon Indigenous territories reduces atmospheric particulates and avoids associated health impacts and costs". ⁠
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While the root causes of the wildfires in Canada and the forest fires in Brazil differ, the message is the same: we must work to protect our forests because they, in turn, protect us. Dr. Prist's work demonstrated that by protecting Amazon Indigenous territories, over 15 million respiratory and cardiovascular disease cases could be avoided yearly, with approximately $2 billion USD saved in health-related costs. The protection of Indigenous sovereignty, the protection of forested lands, and the protection of broader human health is all the same – #OneHealth. ⁠
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Read the paper at the link in our bio!⁠
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#wildfires #forestfires #airpollution #Amazon

🌎🌍🌏 Today is the 50th #WorldEnvironmentDa

🌎🌍🌏 Today is the 50th #WorldEnvironmentDay! Protecting our natural environment is a cornerstone of EcoHealth Alliance’s mission. We seek to describe and understand the complex relationships between ecosystem well-being and human health, to ensure that we live in a world that prioritizes people, animals, and the environment: the #OneHealth approach.

In Brazil, our researchers investigate how land use change in the Amazon & Atlantic forests can impact disease spillover. Their efforts are laying the groundwork for forest restoration initiatives – conserving biodiversity and providing ecosystem services simultaneously. Restoring forested, multifunctional landscapes has become increasingly recognized as a crucial tool to prevent future pandemics and mitigate loss of key ecosystem services.

Liberia is home to nearly half of the remaining Upper Guinean Rainforest, a key biodiversity hotspot housing myriad endangered species. Thousands of Liberians rely on these 6.6 million hectares of forest for their livelihood. Conservation Works, a project led by EcoHealth Alliance with funding from @usaid, is on the ground in these communities to support the establishment and effective management of conservation areas, allowing for biodiversity preservation, sustainable livelihoods and economic growth.

In Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam, EcoHealth Alliance scientists are teasing out the connections between environmental factors, land use change, and human health to better address and prevent zoonotic spillover risk. Human interaction with wildlife can be common in Southeast Asian communities – around crops, in captivity, in markets and wildlife trade chains, and in human dwellings and buildings across the region. Collaborating with scientists, governments, and local communities, this project works to better anticipate future disease emergence, design public health interventions, and disrupt outbreaks at the earliest community spread.

Be sure to visit the link in our bio to learn about the vital work EcoHealth Alliance is doing in dozens of countries worldwide!

🌳🏥🦎 Whether you’ve been following us fo

🌳🏥🦎 Whether you’ve been following us for years, or if you’re new to our world, allow us to reintroduce you to EcoHealth Alliance and our #OneHealth vision of a planet where humans, animals, and the environment are healthy and secure.

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EcoHealth Alliance MISSION

EcoHealth Alliance develops science-based solutions to prevent pandemics and promote conservation.

New Research Suggests Forest Restoration Can Decrease Zoonotic Spillover Risk, But Caution is Needed

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Dr. Paula Prist, EcoHealth Alliance Scientist, Wins British Ecological Society journal prize

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