Bangladesh
Bangladesh provides an optimal opportunity for wildlife zoonotic disease surveillance at what is one of the world’s most active wildlife-livestock-human interface areas. Dense human population co-occurs with rich biodiversity in a country that depends intensively on agriculture by both human and animal labor. This high density of people and livestock in a highly fragmented landscape that forces wildlife to live among villages, coupled with strong seasonal variation in water availability, increases the risk of zoonotic threats and may facilitate transmission of diseases of pandemic potential across this interface. Despite the resident biodiversity and intimate interaction of populations in these interfaces, Bangladesh’s current capacity to conduct wildlife disease surveillance at a regional and national level is developing. Through the implementing partner, EcoHealth Alliance, local partners, existing collaborations with government veterinary and livestock ministries, wildlife authorities, and human health professionals enable PREDICT to fill the wildlife surveillance gap and expand surveillance to other high-risk wildlife-livestock-human interfaces.
