Bangladesh is an emerging infectious disease (EID) hotspot where high human and livestock population densities, rapid landscape change, and deforestation have created multifaceted human-animal interfaces. The high density of, and interactions among, human, livestock and wildlife populations, coupled with a fragile and flood-prone ecosystem increase the risk for zoonotic threats, EIDs, and pandemics.
The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has institutionalized a One Health approach to monitor and mitigate EIDs. STOP Spillover will build on past USAID investments and GoB initiatives focused on the emergence, identification, and spillover of zoonotic pathogens by more fully characterizing biological and behavioral risks, the drivers of risky human behaviors in spillover interfaces, and the design and validation of interventions to mitigate spillover risk.
In Bangladesh, STOP Spillover will be led by a project Country Team, administratively based with implementing partner icddr,b (the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh), in collaboration with GoB partners and stakeholders engaged in One Health Design, Research and Mentoring (OH-DReaM) working groups.