EcoHealth Alliance

EcoHealth Alliance’s #OneHealth mission is to protect and preserve the health of humans, animals, and the environment. We have partners and projects in dozens of countries on every continent except Antarctica – get to know us and the people who drive our mission forwards, working tirelessly every day for a healthier and more secure future.

This month, EcoHealth’s staff and scientists are attending the UN Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of Parties (COP). The COP convenes government, academic, and research institutions, along with other stakeholders, to discuss progress and policy related to the Convention on Biological Diversity. At the last meeting, in Montreal in 2022, a new Global Biodiversity Framework was adopted – aiming to halt and reverse biodiversity loss worldwide by 2030, with 23 specific targets developed. The Montreal-Kunming Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is a sort of Paris Agreement for biodiversity, uniting the international community in efforts to preserve and restore the wondrous abundance of biodiversity on Earth. Staff have been attending meetings and presentations focused on the GBF’s targets, with high level negotiations continuing until the end of the conference next week. Stay tuned for updates from Cali as progress towards GBF goals is assessed – and we recommit to those same goals!

Animal populations worldwide are highly sensitive to shifts in climate – ticks in particular thrive in areas with higher temperatures and humidity. In the US, cases of tick-borne diseases are increasing rapidly as climate patterns change. In the Eastern US, the increased risk of Lyme disease has been linked to the geographic spread of the black-legged tick; growing deer populations (which act as important hosts for and dispersers of ticks). Nichar Gregory, EcoHealth Alliance Vector Ecologist, recently co-authored a new research paper investigating tick-borne disease patterns in our own backyards here in New York City. Check out the link below to read more on their intriguing findings, and the complex vector ecology of urban ecosystems. https://lnkd.in/eJRedwUD

Greetings from South Africa! Last month, EcoHealth Alliance researchers traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, for the 8th World One Health Congress. As longtime leaders in the One Health sphere, the Congress was a great opportunity for our scientists to learn about One Health initiatives happening around the globe, and share updates on our global portfolio of projects. It was a fantastic chance to build connections with our fellow One Health institutions, expanding the global One Health community of practice across borders and oceans. It was inspiring to converge on Cape Town with so many people who share our vision of a world where the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health takes center stage. We look forward to working with this dedicated community to make that vision a reality.

For decades, EcoHealth Alliance (EHA) has pioneered groundbreaking discoveries in disease ecology – discovering natural animal reservoirs for viruses, repeatedly sounding the alarm since 2004 about the likely emergence of a highly contagious bat-origin coronavirus in Southeast Asia or China, and publishing a hotspot map of emerging diseases that governments and non-governmental organizations across the world have used to establish pandemic prevention plans. More recently, EHA’s work helped the development and testing of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. EHA has been a responsible steward of federal funds for over 25 years and received competitive grant awards from a variety of federal agencies, including USAID, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation. EcoHealth Alliance has today released a report that thoroughly refutes a series of misleading or false claims relating to the organization's federally-supported research. This report includes many documents and communications that are now being made public for the very first time. Since 2020, EcoHealth Alliance’s compliance with the National Institutes of Health's grant award conditions has received an intense level of scrutiny from the federal government. This spring, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (SSCP) homed in on EHA. The SSCP was ostensibly established with the goal of uncovering the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, but has been overtly political in its treatment of EcoHealth Alliance. In fact, even before the hearing even began, the SSCP released a report calling on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to “immediately commence suspension and debarment proceedings against both EcoHealth and Dr. Daszak” – in other words, permanently cut them off from federal funding – an action typically reserved for criminal activities related to grants. Since the hearing, EcoHealth Alliance has diligently compiled volumes of evidence to refute the allegations as described in the majority report. We trust that a thorough examination of the evidence will convince readers that these allegations are without merit. You can download our report, and read more here: https://lnkd.in/efnhxdTv

“These results demand that we stop devaluing degraded tropical forests for what they have lost, and rather appreciate them for the many values they retain.” Conservation efforts can often focus on ecosystems that are considered to be whole or pristine, and saving the environment “before it’s too late”. A new paper makes the case that, while these "perfect" ecosystems deserve ample protection, we must expand our view to consider the value of conserving degraded or disturbed ecosystems. “Thresholds for adding degraded tropical forest to the conservation estate”, out now in Nature Portfolio, provides novel insight into the conservation value of degraded ecosystems. The authors found that disturbed and degraded forests can retain significant levels of biodiversity. Depending on the relative level of disturbance, degraded landscapes can retain very high conservation value, sometimes quite similar to that of a pristine forest. In the variable context of a highly disturbed landscape, retaining patches of forest that can sustain biodiversity provide critical refuge for threatened animal populations. Dr. Nichar Gregory, Vector Ecologist at EcoHealth Alliance, was a co-author of this paper, contributing her expertise in landscape ecology to the research group. It’s important to protect all ecosystems – even those that aren’t perfect. Read more about this research here: https://lnkd.in/enR2Fh6S

Southeast Asia is one of the world’s highest-risk hotspots for emerging infectious diseases. This region is home to the origin of the SARS pandemic, repeated outbreaks of novel influenza strains, and the spillover of dangerous pathogens like Nipah virus. This is driven by high diversity of wildlife and rapidly expanding human activities – bringing human and wildlife populations closer and closer, making spillover more and more likely. Community-level behavioral interventions, in tandem with targeted surveillance and detection of illness in at-risk human populations, are key public health interventions that can disrupt disease emergence. Learn more about this work and watch the full clip at the link below, and head to our website to learn more about our pandemic prevention efforts in Southeast Asia. https://lnkd.in/eS6fYDqa

Happy #WorldEnvironmentDay from EcoHealth Alliance! This year's theme is all about ecological restoration – cleaning our water and regrowing our forests. Read up on the Conservation & Health team's research and work on forest restoration at the link: https://lnkd.in/ednYhDEF

In partnership with Georgetown University's "Quelle Fièvre" project, funded by DTRA, EcoHealth Alliance is proud to support fieldwork in Guinea. Our team focuses on advancing biosafety standards and ensuring animal welfare while conducting disease surveillance to detect the cause of fevers within human communities. With the help of field biosafety teams, EHA has also compiled the first-ever comprehensive field biosafety manual. This resource provides guidance on how to interact safely with wildlife and livestock in the absence of a field setting, no matter what species or location. This project represents the trailblazing next step in field biosafety standards, ensuring that they are not just theoretical guidelines, but practical tools that contribute to global health security and enhance the safety of researchers looking to do the same.

Brazil’s grasslands, rivers, and forests are home to an astonishing number of species. The Brazilian Atlantic Forest, south and east of the Amazon, is a veritable treasure trove of biodiversity. In this region alone, there are more than 1,000 species of birds – 200 of them found nowhere else on Earth. The incredible biodiversity and tens of thousands of species that call this region home are all essential for human livelihoods. The Atlantic Forest biome also provides ecosystem services such as clean water, raw materials, food, crop pollination, and disease regulation to 70% of the Brazilian population. The EcoHealth Alliance Conservation & Health team is in Brazil investigating whether forest restoration efforts influence the risk of zoonotic spillover. Their work is critical in understanding the potential of forest restoration to recover functional biodiversity, regulate disease, and other ecosystem services. In this video, they’ll tell you why this #OneHealth work is crucial for the safety and security of humans, animals, and the environment. Watch the full clip and read more below: https://lnkd.in/eqiEfN6n https://lnkd.in/ednYhDEF