The Next Generation One Health Philippines (NGOHP), one of the flagship projects of the Planetary and Global Health Program of the St. Luke’s Medical Center College of Medicine- William H. Quasha Memorial, was recently featured in the first-ever Let’s Talk About session of the International Alliance Against Health Risks in Wildlife Trade held on March 27, 2023.
One of NGOHP’s thrusts is to drive the creation of transdisciplinary research on issues surrounding One Health, wildlife trade, and pandemic prevention. The three research topics currently being pursued by the NGOHP fellows were presented during the event:
- A Critical Look into the Existing Policies on Preventing Zoonotic Risks from Illegal Wildlife Trade in the Philippines
- Exploration of Perspectives, Experiences, and Visions of Local Stakeholders on the One Health Approach and Issues in Selected Wildlife Hotspots in the Philippines
- Local One Health Index (LOHI): Developing a Transdisciplinary Tool to Assess the One Health Performance of the Philippines
Let’s Talk About is a new event series organized by the Alliance to give partner institutions the opportunity to enhance the visibility of their projects, gather feedback, and collaborate within the Alliance’s network of institutions and experts.
The Let’s Talk About session was held virtually, where fellows were given the opportunity to talk about their projects to an international audience for the first time.
According to Dr. Macy Manalo, one of the NGOHP fellows who presented her group’s experience in designing their project: “We identified that current policies regarding the handling of confiscated wildlife from illegal trade can be a potential source for zoonotic spillover. This problem cannot be solved by just one field, but it needs a multidisciplinary approach. Our group is composed of professionals from different backgrounds – from the legal, medical, biological, veterinary, and economic fields – and we intend to use our expertise in our respective fields to come up with recommendations for amendments of our current laws.”
Currently, the fellows are in the final stages of the planning phase of their projects. To ensure that findings are translated into concrete and tangible actions, the research projects will be presented to policymakers and other relevant stakeholders through One Health dialogues during the latter half of the year.
The session can be viewed in full here.
