The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) is the lead applicant agency and will work through the Centerfor Climate and Health (an ANTHC / Alaska Pacific University (APU) partnership), to implement the “DevelopingTribal Capacity for Zoonotic Disease Preparedness and Response - A One Health Initiative” project with a goal ofincreasing interagency collaboration, surveillance, and tribal engagement in the preparation for and response tozoonotic diseases in Alaska. Alaska Native (AN) people face unique and significant challenges from zoonoticdiseases due to subsistence harvesting practices that rely on the collection and consumption of traditionalfoods, limited health service access, social determinants of health, and the impacts of climate change, yet thereare limited resources in rural Alaska to respond to zoonotic disease outbreaks. Alaska in general has limitedcapacity for responding to outbreaks of zoonotic diseases due to the high cost of travel to rural and remotevillages; limited resources to perform surveillance, sampling, and testing of wildlife; and the legal andjurisdictional barriers that can limit coordinated interagency response. As a result, zoonotic disease detectionand response is in some cases delayed, marginalized or absent, resulting in uncertainty and potentially higherrisk for outbreaks.This project aims to develop capacity in the Alaska Tribal Health System and identify strategies to moreeffectively engage and collaborate with state and federal partners to address zoonotic disease through planning,surveillance, training, and outreach. The goal to increase readiness for zoonotic disease response, which wouldbe accomplished through expanding surveillance capacity through the build out of the Local Environmental ObserverNetwork and training communities to effectively utilize this platform. Other key objectives would includedevelopment of a tribal zoonotic disease engagement plan, including developing regional exposure profiles andclinical definitions for presentation of different zoonosis in wildlife. ANTHC would also identify key contactsthrough a statewide directory, and hold collaborative meetings and webinars with a focus on the seven priority(amnesic shellfish poisoning/paralytic shellfish poisoning, zoonotic influenza, cryptosporidiosis/giardiasis,toxoplasmosis, brucellosis, and Q fever) Alaska zoonotic disease and the identification of new and emerging ones.
