New approach to health and the environment to avoid future pandemics

Abstract

This commentary expands Wiebers & Feigin's target article by pinpointing how declining wildlife, expanding livestock and globalisation contribute to the increase in epidemics of zoonotic diseases, the COVID-19 crisis and future health crises. Epidemics and the emergence of zoonoses are manifestations of dysfunctional links with animals, both wild and domestic, requiring a new approach to health and the environment. Serge Morand, senior researcher at CNRS and Cirad in France, invited Professor at the Faculty of Tropical Medicine (Mahidol University, Bangkok), is a health ecologist investigating infectious diseases at the interface between wildlife and livestock in changing socio-ecosystems of Southeast Asia. Website