Case study: Developing intersectoral collaboration to assess human risk from zoonotic disease

Topic outline

• Purpose

  Purpose

  The aim of this case study is to demonstrate the application of One Health principles to the development of a vector-borne disease operational research project.

  This case study is based on real activities conducted in Poland. 

  It has been adapted for teaching purposes, to ensure anonymity, parts of the story have been fictionalised.

  
  

  
  
• Intended learning outcomes

  Intended learning outcomes
  • By the end of this case study, participants should be able to:

    • Understand the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to investigate human risk from a vector-borne disease.
    • Define the prerequisites for a sustainable One Health collaboration.
    • Recognise the complexity of microbiological methods in intersectoral investigations. 
    • Define the study designs and methodological choices for an intersectoral epidemiological investigation.
    • Recognise the barriers for intersectoral investigations.
    • Propose the Public Health messages that are tailored to different audiences.

• How to use this case study

  How to use this case study
  • This case study is designed as stand-alone.

    The participants will receive a handout with the scenario and questions they need work on.

    Participants should go through the case study, question by question. Each question is followed by a paragraph summarising the answer to the previous questions and introducing the next ones.

    Participants should refrain from reading the following pages until all previous questions have been answered.

    This document is a facilitator guide. It includes the same content as the participant handout and some hints highlighted in grey to guide the discussion for each question.

    To ensure the smooth running of the case study, it is advised to discuss some rules with the group.

    Below are some suggestions on how to run the case study:

    1. Distribution: It is proposed to distribute one section at a time or to advise learners not to look at the following pages before they have answered all previous questions.
    2.  Reading Aloud: Participants can take turns to read it aloud paragraph by paragraph.
       Note: Reading all paragraphs aloud and in turn has two advantages:
       - Everyone can quickly participate and go beyond the inhibition of having their voice heard in a large room.
       - Time is given to the whole group to understand the issue and think about the answers.
    3. Answering Questions: The participant reading the question may try to answer it first. Then, the question is discussed as a group. As a facilitator you can share some hints (highlighted in grey) to guide the discussion but should not read them directly to participants. The next participant then reads the next question and so on until the end of the section.
    4.  Reviewing Objectives: Once the epilogue has been read, it is proposed to go back to the purpose and intended learning outcomes again. This re-iterates the acquisitions and provides an additional opportunity to clarify what may have been misunderstood or not fully acquired.

    Estimated duration of the case study: 2 hours
    

    
    

    
    

• Training material

  Training material
  • FileParticipant handout
  • FileFacilitator guide
• Credits

  Credits
  • This case study was initially produced for the One Health ECDC fellowship module in May 2025.

    It was developed by Pawel Stefanoff and critically reviewed by Anna Machowska, Timothee Dub, Ambrogio Cerri, Gaetano Marrone (ECDC, Stockholm); Kim Blom (Folkhälsomyndigheten, Stockholm); Teresa Nygren (Robert Koch Institute, Berlin); Piotr Polanski (National Institute of Public Health – National Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw)

    
    

• License

  License
  • Click here to read about the licensing and terms of use of the training materials.
    

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  Feedback
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