Opinion | Wild animal link to coronavirus outbreak should revolutionise public health strategies
- Why do some people prefer to eat meat from freshly slaughtered animals? How can people be convinced to change their behaviour?
- A ‘one health’ approach, involving not just scientists but experts from disciplines such as economics and anthropology, could help
However, the more connected we are via transport and trade networks and the more concentrated we are in megacities, the easier it becomes for infectious diseases to spread rapidly locally, regionally and globally. This means that we need to be much more effective at detecting outbreaks early and then be able to mount a proportionate response.
But as important, or perhaps even more important, is a need to reduce the risk of such infectious disease emergence, because the enormous rate of human mobility severely compromises the likelihood of a timely emergency response.
A key factor that we need to understand is the role of human behaviour in the emergence of infectious disease risk and in the spread of infection. With that information, policies should then be developed that result in lasting behavioural change, where that is considered socio-economically and culturally appropriate.