Kennedy Mwacalimba

Pandemic Preparedness and Multi-sectoral Zoonosis Risk Management: Implications for Risk Assessment of Avian Influenza in Zambian Trade, Health and Agriculture Kennedy Mwacalimba

This book examines the links between policy, zoonoses, and risk in Zambia and assessed the feasibility of a World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) risk analysis in informing risk management in this context. The analysis demonstrates how external international agendas had considerable influence on pandemic preparedness policy in Zambia, prioritizing the involvement of health and agricultural actors in the policy process and excluded those from trade and other sectors. In using the OIE risk analysis approach, this book suggests weighing both local policy and ecological configurations in assessment of risk and the design of zoonotic disease mitigation policies. While feasible, the merits of an OIE risk analysis in informing policy development in this context would be enhanced by a careful consideration and inclusion of policy processes. An objective and discursive approach to analysis of risk, appropriately communicated to stakeholders, would improve collaboration in disease management across sectors.