PLoS neglected tropical diseases
ZOOJEU: Using Q fever to highlight a participatory science approach for fostering the co-design of management strategies for neglected zoonotic diseases
By Jourdain E, Rousset É, Ramillien É and 2 others.
Abstract
Background
Decision-making is one of the most difficult aspects of managing neglected zoonotic diseases. Ideally, public health management strategies would account for all stakeholder perspectives. However, in practice, certain stakeholders, notably farmers, are often excluded. ZOOJEU is a participatory science approach designed to tackle this challenge; it uses Q fever in goats in western France as a target system.
Materials and methods
ZOOJEU emerged from a transdisciplinary collaboration among researchers in epidemiology, social anthropology, and the public policy sciences. First, we wrote a comic strip based on earlier anthropological research that uncovered the different realities of stakeholders in a region that recently experienced a human Q fever outbreak. Second, a serious game was built to foster mutual understanding among stakeholders and encourage the collaborative co-designing of public health strategies with farmers. Game construction involved compiling lists of tangible and intangible elements that characterise stakeholder experiences of Q fever outbreaks. Then, the game was played by stakeholders at a workshop.