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Tribal One Health

IBRAD’s Approach for Tribal Community Engagement and Surveillance
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Introduction: One Health in Tribal Landscapes

Tribal landscapes, characterised by intricate relationships between people, forests, wildlife, and livestock, provide a unique context for applying the One Health approach. Tribal Food systems and day-to-day cultural practices related to food production, consumption patterns, and food rituals and ceremonies offer integrative models that simultaneously preserve biodiversity, maintain livestock, nourish bodies, and sustain cultural meaning. If these dimensions are lost, humanity faces ecological fragility, health crises, and cultural disintegration. But if we can revive and adapt them intelligently, they may guide us out of the modern impasse of alienated food systems and health.

One Health emphasises that the well-being of humans is inseparably linked with the health of animals and the environment (Destoumieux-Garzón et al., 2018). In tribal areas, where communities depend directly on forests for food, fuel, fodder, and medicine, these interdependencies become even more pronounced. Here, zoonotic disease risks, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and the impacts of climate change cannot be understood or addressed in isolation.

Community engagement and participatory surveillance are central to building resilience in such landscapes. Tribal communities, being the frontline custodians of forest ecosystems, hold traditional ecological knowledge that is critical for monitoring environmental changes and disease outbreaks. Empowering them to engage in active surveillance systems—tracking health indicators of people, livestock, and wildlife—ensures early detection of zoonotic threats, supports containment of AMR, and strengthens adaptive capacity to climate stressors (Cleaveland et al., 2017; FAO, 2022).

Moreover, the degradation of forests and wildlife habitats increases contact between humans, domestic animals, and wildlife, heightening the risk of spillover events (Allen et al., 2017). Strengthening One Health interventions at the tribal community level is not merely a local imperative—it contributes to state, national, and global health security. In this regard, tribal landscapes represent both vulnerable zones and vital arenas for developing models of integrated health governance.

Thus, One Health in tribal landscapes must go beyond biomedical interventions to include social engagement, ecological stewardship, and cross-sectoral surveillance systems. This integrated framework aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and global strategies for pandemic preparedness, AMR control, and climate resilience (WHO, 2022; OHHLEP, 2022).

An effective One Health program for tribal communities requires a culturally sensitive and participatory approach that integrates Indigenous knowledge with scientific practices, where systemic approaches to improve the health of the dependent environment, with the health of humans and the animals will be under the community surveillance and coordination with Public Health and Vet Health, with the public forest functionaries. This multifaceted strategy would address awareness, ecosystem mapping, zoonosis, surveillance, health service links, and resource conservation.
1. Raising awareness of One Health in tribal communities
  • Use traditional communication methods: Employ folk media such as performances, songs, puppetry, and storytelling, which are effective and culturally resonant ways to disseminate information.
  • Prioritize relationships and local knowledge: Collaborate with tribal elders, healers, and leaders to co-create health messages that respect Indigenous worldviews and local understandings of the human-animal-environment connection.
  • Employ tribal community health workers: Recruit and train community health workers from within the tribal community. Their pre-existing trust and proximity to community members make them ideal for conveying health information effectively.
  • Frame the concept with local priorities: Connect One Health principles to the community's immediate concerns, such as the health of their livestock, access to clean water, and the safety of wild food sources.
2. Mapping interdependent ecosystems
  • Use participatory rural appraisal (PRA): Work with community members to develop maps that visually represent their local ecosystem. This ensures local knowledge of resources, land use, and species interactions is accurately reflected.
  • Integrate Indigenous and scientific methods: Combine traditional ecological knowledge, such as sacred sites and seasonal changes, with scientific data, like geographic information systems (GIS), to create a comprehensive map. This "braiding" of knowledge systems honors tribal perspectives while adding scientific rigor.
  • Include all relevant components: The mapping should detail forests, agricultural lands, water bodies, wetlands, livestock grazing areas, wildlife corridors, and human settlements to illustrate the full scope of the interdependent ecosystem.
  • Assess ecosystem services and dependencies: Focus mapping on "ecosystem services," such as provisioning (food, medicine), regulating (water cycling), and cultural services (sacred sites). This highlights the community's reliance on these resources and quantifies ecological values.
3. Understanding the web of zoonosis
  • Identify local zoonotic risks: Conduct workshops with community members and veterinarians to identify prevalent zoonotic diseases based on their experiences. This could involve documenting symptoms in humans and animals and discussing potential transmission pathways.
  • Map transmission pathways: Use the ecosystem map to trace the spread of zoonotic pathogens. For example, track how changes in land use (deforestation) or weather patterns might increase contact between humans, livestock, and wild animals, affecting disease vectors like mosquitoes.
  • Leverage traditional knowledge: Incorporate tribal knowledge about animal behavior, plant uses, and environmental indicators. This can provide crucial context on risk factors that might be invisible to external experts.
  • Use dynamic modeling: Collaborate with health and veterinary professionals to use dynamic modeling based on local data to explore how environmental changes could affect disease transmission. This helps predict outbreaks and identify effective intervention strategies.
4. Implementing a community-based surveillance system
  • Create simple, standardized forms: Develop user-friendly reporting formats (like the "S," "P," and "L" forms used by India's Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme) that tribal health workers can easily use to report suspected cases.
  • Establish clear reporting mechanisms: Set up a straightforward communication system, such as a designated phone number or communication platform, for community members and health workers to report unusual health events or animal illnesses.
  • Provide appropriate incentives: Offer incentives, monetary or otherwise, to motivate community members and health workers to participate actively in the surveillance system. Incentives can help address the challenges of maintaining long-term interest.
  • Ensure timely feedback: Crucially, set up a feedback loop where the community receives information on reported events and the actions taken. This builds trust and shows the tangible benefits of their participation.
5. Developing links with public and veterinary health services
  • Establish multidisciplinary committees: Form local "One Health" committees with representatives from the tribal community, public health services, and veterinary departments. These committees would foster communication and guide implementation.
  • Organize mobile medical and veterinary camps: Regularly hold mobile clinics staffed with both human health professionals and veterinarians to provide services directly in remote tribal settlements.
  • Coordinate between sectors: Ensure coordination between human, animal, and environmental health sectors. For instance, if a disease outbreak is detected, public health workers, veterinarians, and environmental managers should work together on a response.
  • Use "citizen help desks": Establish help desks in hospitals staffed by tribal counselors to guide and assist community members in accessing health services.
6. Conserving resources and developing better food systems
  • Revitalize traditional food systems: Document and promote the use of traditional, indigenous foods that are adapted to the local environment and have high nutritional value. Establish seed banks to conserve local varieties.
  • Support community-based conservation: Empower communities to conserve natural resources by legitimizing their traditional knowledge systems and practices for forest, land, and water management.
  • Document and validate traditional medicine: Work with traditional healers to document their knowledge of medicinal plants. Support the sustainable harvesting or cultivation of these plants to improve community health and provide potential income streams.
  • Promote integrated livestock and crop management: Implement integrated landscape management approaches, such as agroforestry, which balance agricultural production with the conservation of natural resources. This also creates a more resilient and sustainable food system
Key References
  • Allen, T., Murray, K. A., Zambrana-Torrelio, C., et al. (2017). Global hotspots and correlates of emerging zoonotic diseases. Nature Communications, 8, 1124.
  • Cleaveland, S., Sharp, J., Abela-Ridder, B., Allan, K. J., Buza, J., & Crump, J. A. (2017). One Health contributions towards more effective and equitable approaches to health in low-resource settings. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 372(1725), 20160168.
  • Destoumieux-Garzón, D., Mavingui, P., Boetsch, G., et al. (2018). The One Health concept: 10 years old and a long road ahead. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 5, 14.
  • FAO (2022). One Health Priority Research Agenda for Antimicrobial Resistance. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
  • WHO & OHHLEP (2022). One Health Joint Plan of Action (2022–2026). Geneva: World Health Organization.