A zoonotic disease is likely to cause the next pandemic. Can a better understanding of society help prevent it?

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A recent article in The Conversation seeks to bring the global focus back to the causes of pandemics and how we prevent the next one – particularly the societal factors that contribute to zoonotic disease spread.

We know that most epidemics and pandemics throughout history have been caused by zoonotic diseases – think of bubonic plague spread from rats, measles virus originating from the now-eradicated cattle disease Rinderpest, Spanish flu in 1918 due to a highly pathogenic influenza of bird origin, and AIDS originating in African apes in the late 20th century.

Each of these diseases made the jump from animals to humans due to a combination of factors, including human behaviour, animal movements, pathogen evolution and changes to the environment.

Understanding how these diverse factors work together to bring humans and pathogens closer to each other lies at the heart of a One Health approach to disease prevention. The One Health approach has now been adopted globally by the organisations that strive to protect human and animal health: the World Organisation for Animal Health, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, and the United Nations Environment Programme.

In the article, the Canadian social science researchers highlight the need for the complexities of human behaviour to be considered as part of One Health solutions. This will help effective communication messages reach the people whom it will benefit most.

According to the authors, 'Social science researchers aim to understand people — their perceptions and concerns, their histories, their socio-political, cultural and environmental contexts, and their knowledge — with a view to understanding how structural disparities affect personal and societal behaviour, health and political power.'

They make the point that strategies to treat and prevent diseases, like vaccination programs, will not succeed if they are not designed around the cultural landscape of the target population.

This article is a timely reminder that an all-inclusive approach will be needed as we face new and re-emergent global disease threats like coronaviruses and influenza.