title: Intersectoral collaboration between the medical and veterinary professions in low-resource societies: The role of research and training institutions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Neglected zoonoses continue to significantly affect human health in low-resource countries. A symposium was organised in Antwerp, Belgium, on 5 November 2010 to evaluate how intersectoral collaboration among educational and research institutions could improve the situation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Brucellosis and echinococcosis were presented as models for intersectoral collaboration. Low-resource societies face evident knowledge gaps on disease distribution, transmission within and across species and impact on human and animal health, precluding the development of integrated control strategies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While veterinarians have been the main driver of the One Health initiative, the medical profession does not seem to be fully aware of how veterinary science can contribute to human public health. It was postulated that transdisciplinarity could help fill knowledge gaps and that encouraging such transdisciplinarity should start with undergraduate students. Furthermore, intersectoral collaboration on zoonoses should not ignore the social sciences (e.g. assessment of indigenous knowledge and perception; participatory surveillance), which can contribute to a better understanding of the transmission of diseases and improve communities' participation in disease control activities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, Antwerp, Belgium. tmarcotty@itg.be
authors.forename: Tanguy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Marcotty
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Thys
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Conrad
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Godfroid
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Craig
authors.forename: Jakob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zinsstag
authors.forename: Filip
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Meheus
authors.forename: Abdou Razac
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Boukary
authors.forename: Mallam Abdou
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Badé
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sahibi
authors.forename: Hind
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Filali
authors.forename: Saskia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hendrickx
authors.forename: Cyrille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pissang
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van Herp
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van der Roost
authors.forename: Séverine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thys
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hendrickx
authors.forename: Marleen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Claes
authors.forename: Tine
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Demeulenaere
authors.forename: Joep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Mierlo
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Dehoux
authors.forename: Marleen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boelaert
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003906:Developing Countries; D004443:Echinococcosis / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D010820:Physicians; D011634:Public Health; D018634:Veterinarians; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission*