One Health Framework for Zoonotic Disease Management at the Human-Livestock-Wildlife Interface in the Lake Chad Basin

This study develops and applies a One Health analytical framework for managing zoonotic disease risks at the complex human-livestock-wildlife interface of the Lake Chad Basin in north-eastern Nigeria, contributing an original interdisciplinary methodology for disease risk governance in a fragile ecosystem context. The Lake Chad Basin hosts diverse wildlife, extensive pastoral livestock production, and densely settled human communities in close ecological contact, creating conditions for zoonotic disease emergence and spillover that are inadequately addressed by single-sector approaches. This study integrates epidemiological surveillance, ecological modelling, social-anthropological analysis, and health economic assessment in a multi-scale One Health framework applied across Borno, Yobe, and Jigawa States and Lake Chad island communities. Serological surveillance of 1,800 cattle, 600 camels, 400 wildlife samples, and 1,200 humans tests for Rift Valley fever, highly pathogenic avian influenza, anthrax, brucellosis, and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Contact network analysis models human-animal-wildlife interaction patterns using GPS telemetry and observation. Social network analysis maps traditional disease knowledge and reporting pathways. One Health economic analysis quantifies the benefit-cost ratio of integrated versus sector-specific interventions. Findings reveal significant serological evidence of multi-directional pathogen circulation, with MERS-CoV antibody prevalence of 14 percent in camels and 6 percent in camel herders. Integrated One Health surveillance and response shows a projected 3.4-fold better benefit-cost ratio than parallel sector-specific programmes. The study contributes an original Lake Chad Basin One Health framework and recommends a formalised multi-country One Health coordination mechanism.

Keywords: One Health, zoonotic diseases, Lake Chad Basin, human-livestock-wildlife interface, Nigeria.