Bridging Human and Animal Health through One Health Education and Research
Ongoing Project
Project title: One Health – People and the Environment
Subtitle: A Basis for Sustainable Livestock Production in Mongolia
This project applies a One Health approach to examine the interconnections between human and animal health, rangeland ecosystems, herder livelihoods, and livestock value chains in Mongolia.
The study will be conducted in selected soums of Arkhangai, Tuv, and Dornod provinces, comparing herder groups practicing planned and sustainable pasture management with households using conventional grazing practices. The project will assess livestock numbers in relation to pasture carrying capacity, vegetation conditions, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse gas emissions, particularly methane from ruminant livestock.
Surveillance will also be conducted for major livestock and zoonotic diseases, including brucellosis, foot-and-mouth disease, PPR, and echinococcosis. Their impacts on livestock productivity will be assessed through indicators such as live weight, carcass weight, and milk production.
In addition, the project will evaluate household income, expenditure, and livestock value chains and support selected herder households in producing higher-value products through technologies such as cheese making, meat smoking, and drying.
Overall, the project aims to develop an integrated model that simultaneously promotes animal health, sustainable rangeland management, environmental resilience, livestock productivity, and improved herder livelihoods.
Project team / Key researchers
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Prof. Jakob Zinsstag — Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Basel and Senior Scientific Group Leader, Human and Animal Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Switzerland.
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Prof. Beat Reidy — Professor of Grassland Management and Ruminant Production Systems, School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (HAFL), Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH), Switzerland.
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Dr. B. Chimedtseren — School of Veterinary Medicine, Mongolian University of Life Sciences (MULS); member of the Association of Human and Veterinary Epidemiologists NGO, Mongolia.
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Dr. Burmaa Dashbal — Executive Director, Green Gold – Mongolian Rangeland Research Center NGO, Mongolia.
Past Project
Project title: Epidemiological survey and new pen-side test development (vLAMP) for foot and mouth disease and lumpy skin disease between 2023-2025 (CHN-2023/73)
The joint project between College of Animal Science and Technology (CAST), Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology (HNUST), Hebei, China and School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM), Mongolian University of Life Sciences (MULS), Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
This study based on the pen- side nucleic acid tests plays a crucial role in diagnosing and controlling infectious diseases for the first time. However, up to now, there are no such products to meet the requirements at a grass-roots level. Due to the serious influence of FMD and LSD, and the urgent requirement for their pen-side test products, experienced bilateral scientists will cooperate to develop the rapid, convenient, cost- saving visual loop-mediated isothermal method (vLAMP) and the corresponding equipment upon the previous experimental foundations which can be applied in the undeveloped regions, such as centers for animal disease control and prevention, cattle farms and slaughterhouses. The methods and equipment will also be used to test clinical samples including bovine blood, milk, and oesophageal- pharyngeal (OP) samples, especially collected from the livestock raising along the border areas. Both sides of the team researchers will carry out diverse cooperation mechanisms, such as building a complementary team, sharing scientific information, supporting the cooperator to establish or optimize test methods, and helping evaluate the efficacy of the kits and equipment. Underactive and efficient cooperation, the FMD or LSD vLAMP methods will be successfully developed with such characteristics as no crossing reaction with other common bovine diseases (high specificity), the limit of detection of 10-50 copies of plasmid per reaction (high sensitivity), and easy operation by providing the ready-to-use reaction tubes with solidified buffer. In addition, we will also develop a carry-on suitcase equipped with a mini metal block with heat lid, vLAMP kit, a mini kit or device for simple extraction of sample nucleic acid, regular pipettors, and trash harmless disposal device. The products developed under Sino-Mongolian cooperation can become a useful tool for the epidemiological survey of FMD and LSD, especially in the underdeveloped frontlines to guarantee the healthy and sustainable development of the cattle industry.