One Health in the Argan Forest

Families living in the argan forest now face a new challenge of attacks by uncontrolled packs of feral dogs which roam free in the forest and which represent a real threat to people and their livestock. They can transmit zoonotic diseases such as deadly rabies by biting people and especially children, and have also started to prey on people’s precious livestock or on endangered gazelles living in the region. Addressing the challenge of zoonotic diseases is one of the components of our One Health project in the argan forest, which objective is to improve the health of local people, the health of their animals and the health of their unique and threatened argan forest.

 We started to vaccinate domestic dogs against rabies and conduct awareness campaigns on rabies in schools and women’s associations in local villages last year but now need to develop a long-term method for controlling this new and potentially fatal risk. However, the presence of feral dogs packs is a new phenomenon in this threatened ecosystem and no long-term solutions will be effective until this challenge is better understood.

We have therefore initiated a multi-disciplinary project of the conflict with feral dogs involving vets, doctors and ecologists to understand better how this new dog population functions and what triggers these dogs to now attack people and their livestock. The team will work in villages with key people to monitor feral dogs movements, population dynamics and behavior and will also conduct awareness campaigns with local families on methods to protect themselves and their animals against feral dogs.

The control of vital health challenges such as rabies and other zoonotic diseases can only succeed if we develop strategies based on scientific evidence of the root cause of the problems, and not on what we think might be happening. We have to integrate the understanding of feral dog populations, their dynamics and ecology, which in turn is closely linked to domestic waste management and interactions between all dog populations. People and their animals are part of a wider ecosystem in which all elements are inter-connected. It is fascinating to think that some domestic dogs may have returned to a completely wild and free-roaming stage but these once so-called “man’s best friend” now represent a real risk to people’s lives and health and it is our responsibility to control them.

As we have successfully completed our test One Health programme in four women cooperatives and schools in 2018, thanks to GlobalGiving amazing supporters, we are now preparing to expand the scope of our project in 2019.

The essence of our holistic One Health project is to move from a curative mono-sectorial approach to a preventive cross-sectoral approach that address environmental and health challenges at their roots. So we don’t try to stop a hemorrhage on a wound by just placing a plaster, we also diagnose the origin of the problems and address it. In our context,  we are investigating the origin of challenges arising at the Human/Animal/Environment interface while identifying their relationships and causes in order to find the best control methods.

 In order to address the problem of deadly rabies in the argan forest, we have started to vaccinate domestic dogs in villages and to conduct awareness campaigns in women’s cooperatives and schools in september 2018. This was successfully achieved by the multi-disciplinary team which included veterinary students , thus providing an excellent opportunity to also train future health professionals in One health and biodiversity conservation. During our first rabies vaccination campaign, we vaccinated domestic dogs in four villages, going from house to house and raising awareness on rabies. It was surprising to hear that some dog owners were not even aware of the risks of rabies. We also raised awareness on this deadly zoonotic disease and other ones transmitted y domestic animals with school children from 4 villages, educating nearly 150 kids on the importance of conserving the argan forest and preventing zoonotic diseases. Through our education campaigns with women in argan oil cooperatives. -the main users and custodians of the argan forest - we also amplified our impact by targeting women who were most concerned as mothers and also as users of this unique biodiversity

But our initial work has also highlighted how complex some of these challenges can be. The control of such vital health challenges as rabies needs to integrate the understanding of feral dog populations, their dynamics and ecology, which in turn is closely linked to domestic waste management and interactions between domestic and feral dog populations. Which is why we are preparing to conduct a multi-disciplinary study that will start early next year to better understand the dynamics of animal populations in the argan forest, as well as people’s behavior towards these animal populations. This is indispensable in order to develop effective control methods for such health challenges

At the same time, we are continuing to develop One Health education modules and interventions that can already make a tangible impact. For example our module on scorpions stings has already enabled women who were trained to avoid being stung by these lethal creatures, which is sadly a  frequent occurrence for women collecting argan fruits. Our health education programmes with school children on rabies and other zoonotic diseases has also protected those children from potentially deadly bites by wild or domestic carnivores.

Our holistic One health approach is based on the inextricable linked between the health of people, the health of their animals and the health of their environment. In the argan forest, tens of thousands of families have a livelihood which is dependent on  the argan tree and all the ecosystem services associated with this unique environment. However, life is also very challenging for all these families who have very poor, if any, access to basic social services such as water, medical or veterinary services. Our project will improve these people’s health and reinforce their roles as custodians of this extraordinary ecosystem -the last shield against desertification- the argan forest.