One Health in Madagascar
Human health cannot be separated from the health of the ecosystems on which we depend, or from the health of our neighbors—the wild animals that share these ecosystems.
Human health is interconnected with the health of ecosystems and wildlife. The transdisciplinary field of One Health recognizes this interdependence, and encourages collaborations between partners working in human, animal, and environmental health to protect biodiversity and support thriving communities.
Madagascar is an island country off the coast of southern Africa. It is designated as one of the world’s top five “hottest” biodiversity hotspots, and a global priority for conservation (Myers et al, 2000, Nature), due to its nearly unparalleled levels of endemic biodiversity. It is estimated that 90% of the plants, 98% of the amphibians and reptiles, and 100% of the mammals of Madagascar are found nowhere else on earth (Ganzhorn et al. 2001, Oryx).
The Manombo Special Reserve is a small remote region in southeast Madagascar, and includes one of the last remaining patches of coastal rainforest. In this small area, there are nine species of highly endangered lemurs and numerous species of threatened birds, reptiles, amphibians, snails, and plants. The reserve is also an important resource for more than 8,000 people living in 31 villages in the area. Local communities suffer from extreme poverty, malnutrition, and inadequate health care. Without other available resources, people are forced to turn to the forest for their survival. Slash-and-burn agriculture, logging, and wild animal hunting threaten the survival of Manombo’s forest and biodiversity, which has consequences on the people’s quality of life and health.
Zoo New England’s partner in the Manombo region is the organization Health in Harmony. Health In Harmony’s mission is to preserve rainforests around the world, which they do through supporting local villages to implement community-designed solutions to restore their forests. By helping to fulfill those community-designed solutions, Health In Harmony provides improvements in health care, greater food security, training in sustainable farming practices, and alternative income-generating activities such as reforestation, providing alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture and wildlife hunting.
Zoo New England is spearheading groundbreaking research with the aim to:
- Update our knowledge of the mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and plants present in the reserve.
- Estimate the relative abundance of each species detected.
- Assess how community-led initiatives, facilitated by our partner Health in Harmony, impact biodiversity, animal health, and forest health over time.
As part of this work, we’re collaborating with members of the Yoder Lab at Duke University, the Varsani Lab at Arizona State University, and Mahaliana Labs in Madagascar to assess the impacts that community-led initiatives have on reducing transmission of viruses and pathogens between wildlife and people. To do so, we collect biomaterials from various species, including humans, rodents, lemurs, and domestic species, and perform genetic testing and viral metagenomics to screen for known pathogens and to identify entirely new viruses. We’re combining these genetic results with biodiversity assessments, animal health exams, and water quality testing to understand the impact of community-designed solutions for forest conservation on the improvement of human and ecosystem health.
Our mission is to assess and support mitigation strategies for at-risk communities around Manombo that can be implemented across human-wildlife interfaces globally.