One Health, One Caribbean, One Love ­ Caribbean Leadership, Regional Cooperation, Local Action

Inter-sectoral collaboration is extremely limited, both at policy and technical levels, across the Caribbean region. However, many of the priority health problems currently facing the region, like climate change, food security, ocean health, and emerging diseases arise from the interactions between people, animals and our shared environment. If these health issues are to be addressed effectively and efficiently, an intersectoral or One Health approach is clearly required. The European Union funded project "One Health, One Caribbean, One Love" set out to promote and entrench a "One Health" approach to priority health issues affecting humans, animals and the environment within the Caribbean region. The project, which spanned from March 2014 and ended in June 2017, successfully built the capacity of the national veterinary, public health and environmental health services, through the development of a cadre of One Health Leaders, the creation of Caribbean regional and national One Health Networks, and the development of a One Health strategic framework. The One Health Leadership Series developed a core group of One Health Leaders from 12 Caribbean countries. The leaders attended a series of 5 themed One Health Leadership workshops, and each country team developed and conducted a One Health project addressing a national priority health issue at the interface between human, animal and environmental health ­ a learning by doing approach. The One Health leadership series has enabled the leaders to more effectively design and manage One Health policies, programs and projects in order to develop more holistic scientific solutions to emerging health problems.

Developing a disease prevention strategy in the Caribbean: the importance of assessing animal health-related risks at regional level.

In 2009 CaribVET conducted a survey among Caribbean national Veterinary Services to assess perceptions of risk assessment and to identify the principal exotic diseases of concern in the region and their means of introduction. The results showed that the introduction of live animals was considered the most likely route of introduction of exotic animal pathogens, followed by the uncontrolled introduction of animal products by boat passengers. The results were used to define a regional strategy for assessing animal health risks that highlights the importance of within-region exchanges.

Risk factors for West Nile virus seropositivity of equids in Guadeloupe.

In Guadeloupe, West Nile virus (WNV) activity was first observed in equids in 2002, and a high seroprevalence was found in 2003. The objective of our study was to determine individual and environmental factors associated with the risk of WNV seropositivity during 2002-2003. Fieldwork was conducted to retrospectively determine the location of equids at the time of virus circulation and to collect information regarding environmental and individual variables. Sera were collected from 369 equids out of an estimated total population of less than 500. Thirty-four environmental and individual variables were investigated. Equids had a higher risk (p<0.001) for WNV seropositivity if they lived within the proximity "distance less than 1.5km" of marshes or swamp forests "a large freshwater formation behind mangroves" or if they remained outside after dusk. Equids living within the proximity of ouassous shrimp (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) basins or sugar cane fields had a lower risk (p<0.001) for WNV seropositivity. These results confirm that WNV circulation is more likely in the humid coastal areas of Guadeloupe. The identification of risk factors is useful for predicting future emergence sites of WNV in the archipelago and other Neotropical islands, and to better target sentinel surveillance in the region.