Working Title:  The impact of multi-sectoral collaborations under the One Health aproach in the household health environment. The case of poor communities in Accra

Research Countries: Ghana

Research Themes: risk management, social capital, health insurance, multi-sectoral collaboration

Background
In Ghana, the idea of multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary coordination to prevent, respond and manage public health at the human-animal-environmental interface has been present for about twenty years without being directly attached to the One Health (OH) discourse.
The latest developments have made possible the inclusion of the OH approach in the public health policy bills. However, there is little empirical evidence on the benefits obtained at the community level from integrating health actors in Ghana.
This work is based on the hypothesis that the historical development of multi-sectoral collaborations, despite being scattered, has created a common ground for turning the understanding and management of health into a holistic approach. The objective is to provide empirical evidence on the pathways for bringing a holistic health concept to the community level in order to influence the health environment and risk preferences.

Methods
To analyze the historical development of multi-sectoral collaborations in the health sectors, the author relied on an extended literature review.
Information on the current One Health Policy developments and the motivations for engaging in multi-sectoral collaborations was obtained from semi-structured interviews with experts and analyzed using a Political Economy Analysis approach.
To evaluate the extent to which the holistic health concept is being practically implemented at the community level, structured household interviews were conducted covering socioeconomic, health, social involvement, environment and consumption data between January and March 2019. The sample included 1100 households in the Districts of James Town and Korle Dudor in Accra. Various regression specifications (OLS, Probit, IV / non-IV) are to be used to estimate the effect of public services provision and social networks in the household health environment and risk preferences.

Expected Results
The expected results are related to (1) historical development of collaborations making possible to bridge gaps between health sectors for addressing zoonotic diseases, promoting joint epidemiology training for human and animal health professionals, and (2) that the integration of health sectors report benefits for the promotion of healthy environments at the community level.

Supervisor(s):

Prof. Dr. Katja Bender (HBRS)