Evaluating Impacts of a One Health Approach to Companion Animal Health and Management in a Remote Aboriginal Community in the Northern Territory, Australia

Abstract

This study evaluated a community-driven animal health and management program in the remote community of Wadeye, Northern Territory. This evaluation used a pre-post design to assess changes in animal and human health outcomes over a 12-month period of program implementation, from June 2018 to June 2019. The evaluation assessed the program by comparing animal health outcomes before versus one year after program implementation and comparing human health outcomes before versus during the first 12 months of the program. Outcome measures included the desexing status of dogs and cats, body condition and hair score of dogs, and rates of people presenting to the health clinic for a dog bite. Animal health outcomes significantly improved after program implementation. From pre to post program, there was a 77% increase in the prevalence of good body condition score among dogs and a 9% increase in the prevalence of good hair score among dogs, and the prevalence of desexed dogs and cats more than doubled. There was no significant change in the number of people presenting to the health clinic for a dog bite. Consideration on how to further incorporate human and environmental health aspects into the program could be useful for future One Health programs.

Systematic review of dog bite prevention strategies

“…Among the included studies, most were conducted in the Northern Hemisphere, with only three from Australia43–45 and one from NZ46 (online supplemental table 1). Study designs included 15 observational cohort studies46–59 and 27 interventional studies, 18 of which were predesign and postdesign with no control group,43 45 60–75 five non-randomised studies with a control group,44 76–79 three cross-over studies,56 61 80 and one randomised controlled trial (RCT) 81. One study had inadequate information given to determine the study design 65.…”

“…Dog bites were measured in 27 studies, including four studies that reported animal bites (predominantly dog bites),70 75 77 82 a study reporting all dog attacks (including being rushed at by a dog),44 a study reporting bite ratio, a measure used by the police force54 and a study measuring bite attempts 76. Dog bite incidence as a proportion of the population was calculated in 14 studies 43–47 50 51 57 62 71 77 79 83 84. Dog bites were measured from a variety of data sources including hospital admissions, emergency department (ED) or primary care presentations, household surveys, or reports to animal management or public health services.…”

“…Interventions identified focused on six main areas: dog-control legislation, sterilisation, alcohol reduction, education of people, dog training programmes, and medication or diet (online supplemental table 1). Fifteen studies investigated the effect of dog-control legislation, with a focus on either general dog control, or breed-specific strategies 44–52 57 65 74 75 83 84. Six studies investigated sterilisation 58 59 63 64 81 82.…”

Priorities for Research into the Impact of Canine Surgical Sterilisation Programmes for Free-Roaming Dogs: An International Priority Setting Partnership

“…Whilst there is some existing evidence that supports the use of sustained sterilisation to reduce population size in specific areas at rates of 65.7 for females [ 23 ] and 61.8–86.5 for males and females [ 24 ], there are very few studies in comparison to the number of interventions being conducted. A reduction in population size has also been reported in one community after a year of intervention [ 25 ], although sterilisation rate was not reported. The proportion of dogs requiring sterilisation to achieve a reduction in population size is influenced by a number of other factors (which may lie outwith the influence of the intervention), such as human population size and urbanisation [ 21 ].…”

Examining the concept of One Health for indigenous communities: A systematic review

“…The studies focused on infections that occur as a result of close interactions between humans and animals. The most significant of the zoonotic infections discussed were rabies and helminths, for which dogs are a vector [ [14] , [15] , [16] ]. Free-roaming dogs are numerous in Indigenous communities throughout northern Saskatchewan, Nunavik, and Northern & Central Australia.…”