Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SIRCAH (Secretariat for the International Research Consortium on Animal Health)

Teaser

Animal diseases can cause serious social, economic and environmental damage, impact on animal welfare and in some cases directly threaten human health. These diseases ignore borders so an increasing number of the major disease problems or threats faced by the livestock...

Summary

Animal diseases can cause serious social, economic and environmental damage, impact on animal welfare and in some cases directly threaten human health. These diseases ignore borders so an increasing number of the major disease problems or threats faced by the livestock industry are of a global nature. Global challenges need global solutions and these can only be achieved in the required timeframe through a common and coordinated research effort. Research on infectious diseases of animals is poorly funded compared to the human equivalent despite 60% of all human infectious diseases and around 75% of emerging infectious diseases being zoonotic. However, more could be achieved, even with the current level of investment, through the coordination of this research effort and the sharing of results.

Building on the EU-funded STAR-IDAZ network, the International Research Consortium was launched in January 2016 with partners agreeing to coordinate their research programmes to address identified research needs, share results and together deliver new and improved animal health strategies for at least 30 priority diseases, infections or issues, including candidate vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics and other animal health products, procedures and/or key scientific information and tools to support risk analysis and disease control. The network is now supported, since October 2016, by an EU-funded Secretariat and a Scientific Committee of 16 experts.

Livestock provides one third of human protein intake and are an important source of income in many Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) so working together to develop new control methods for the disease problems common to countries around the world is essential to protect food security and the livestock industries while mitigating the risk to public health from zoonoses and the environment impact associated with animal production.

The development of new and improved vaccines and diagnostics for priority diseases is essential to decrease the use of antibiotics and other antimicrobials in livestock production thus decreasing the overall the overall selection pressure for the development of resistance by pathogens. This has been identified as an important area by the OIE, the White House and other governments around the world while the EU Action Plan on AMR states that the Commission will “foster international research collaboration on AMR in the animal health sector in the STARIDAZ International Research Consortium”.

The global market for veterinary vaccines and diagnostics is worth several $billion dollars and endemic diseases have significant cost implications for livestock owners. It is generally believed that endemic diseases cause a 20% reduction in livestock productivity so new disease control strategies that reduce the impact of disease will therefore reduce the environmental footprint (including that from greenhouse gas emissions) of livestock production.

The overall objective of the Secretariat for the International Research Consortium on Animal Health (SIRCAH) is to facilitate the STAR-IDAZ International Research Consortium on Animal Health (STAR-IDAZ IRC) achieving its objectives by establishing a secretariat to provide organisational and communication support to the STAR-IDAZ IRC and its various members and assisting with the development of focused research roadmaps. This will contribute to accelerating research on animal health and at reinforcing international research cooperation.

Work performed

The IRC was launched in January 2016 with 18 members from 11 countries in the Executive Committee increasing to 20 Partners from 13 countries at the launch of SIRCAH and now stands at 24 Partners from 15 countries, including one International research organisation (ILRI), the European Commission, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and three industry bodies with a combined five-year budget in excess of $5billion for research in the area of the IRC. Discussions are ongoing with several STAR-IDAZ members and other organisations in IRC and other countries with a view to them joining the IRC. A Scientific Committee consisting of 16 experts from around the world has been established to advise the IRC Executive Committee, operating largely through the IRC Secretariat which facilitates communication between the various components of the IRC and the wider stakeholder community.
In an effort to focus research on where it is most needed SIRCAH has been engaging with the Working Groups in conducting research gap analysis and the development of research roadmaps based on a ‘Lead model’ to help clarify problems, identify gaps in knowledge and principle barriers to solving the problems, and developing solutions. Each lead will consider the Research Question (“What are we trying to achieve?”, “What is the problem we are trying to solve?”), Challenge (“What are the scientific and technological challenges/Knowledge gaps needing to be addressed”), and Solution Routes (“What approaches could/should be taken to address the Research Question?”), Dependencies (What else needs to be done before we solve this need) and State of the Art (Existing knowledge including success and failures). This will be supported by an IT platform where research projects will be linked to the challenges associated with each lead allowing users to assess the extent to which the challenges are being addressed and identifying areas requiring further attention.
Working with the Scientific Committee and Working Groups, SIRCAH has constructed roadmaps for priority topics including bovine tuberculosis, PRRS, Brucellosis, tick-borne diseases, African Swine Fever vaccine development and Vaccinology with roadmaps for Corona viruses and helminth parasite infections under development.
In an effort to reduce the innovation gap with a joined up approach to research discussions have taken place with the industry partners on the IRC concerning access to commercially sensitive information and the possibility of SIRCAH operating as an Honest Data Broker.

Final results

The research roadmaps on priority topics provide a way of visualizing complex problems showing the knowledge gaps and helping to decide what projects need to be developed to create workable solutions. In developing the early “Lead” model research roadmaps it became apparent that there were common features across the various diseases thus allowing the development of generic roadmaps for vaccine and diagnostic test development supported by an IT platform for the mapping of activities. The aim is to have “Lead” model research roadmaps for all of the priority topics which are accessible on the STAR-IDAZ IRC web site which will provide a valuable tool for the IRC Executive Committee, other programme owners of funding organisations and the research community while the supporting platform will be available beyond the life of the project. Improving the focus of the research effort on the various common priority topics should speed up the development of control strategies, result in improved animal health and welfare while improving returns on research investment.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.star-idaz.net.