The economic evaluation of One Health

This chapter provides an overview of the main methods and techniques available for the economic evaluation of One Health initiatives to introduce scientists and professionals from backgrounds other than economics to key considerations and implications of such assessments. The first part of the chapter describes the main analytical tools currently used in economic evaluations and discusses their potential and limitations when applied in a One Health context. A critical assessment is provided in particular to issues dealing with complexity of interrelations between human and animal health, and effective management of environmental resources. The second part of the chapter introduces and describes a range of pragmatic approaches to economic evaluation which have been inspired from the need to deal with and account for such complexity. It also investigates how systems approaches and methods used in One Health can enhance the capacity of economic evaluations to support informed decision making. With this chapter we are making a contribution to develop One Health economics as a scientific trans-disciplinary topic and stimulate further economic evaluations of One Health activities from a broader range of disciplines.