Living One Health Risk Assessment tool: L'ORA

Readiness for health threats to animals and humans requires constant surveillance of the surrounding environment, early detection of new threats, and assessment of risks that serious infectious diseases may be introduced into new areas. Decision-makers need a basis in the form of risk assessment to prioritize measures to reduce the risks of introduction and spread among animals and to humans. Risk assessment of health threats in a global context requires tools that can interpret large volumes of complex data from many different sources in a short time. Such tools must also be able to take into account and process rapid changes in the data foundation.

In the project "Living One Health Risk Assessment Tool (L'ORA)," a risk assessment tool is being developed online with automatic updating to assess the risk of introduction of zoonotic diseases and animal diseases to countries and regions within the EU. The work is carried out in three main steps:

1. Development of a method for risk assessment that considers the likelihood of introduction, the extent of spread, and the consequences of spread regarding animal health, public health, environmental impact, as well as social and economic consequences.

2. Identification of relevant data sources (inputs) and development of methods for automated data collection with continuous updating or as needed.

3. Visualization of results (outputs) in a format that clearly presents uncertainties and assumptions.

The tool is being developed as a generic tool, i.e., it should be able to be used for several different diseases and several different countries or regions with the aim of providing a basis for prioritizing monitoring and control strategies for serious infectious animal diseases and zoonoses.