Toward One Health integrated companion animal health surveillance: barriers and solutions according to expert opinion.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To explore key stakeholders' vision for a One Health integrated companion animal health surveillance system in Ontario through a series of individual semistructured interviews with members of an expert advisory group. METHODS: We conducted 9 semistructured interviews with members of the expert advisory group. Interviews were conducted online via Zoom and lasted between 20 and 60 minutes. Interviews were analyzed thematically with the use of a hybrid inductive/deductive approach to coding. RESULTS: 8 interconnected themes were identified, describing key considerations for the future design of a companion animal health surveillance system. These themes included reluctance to participate in data sharing, complexities of extracting and processing data, securing funding, consolidated vision, value, targeted outputs, potential of misrepresentation of data, and strong governance. CONCLUSIONS: Factors relating to the design of an integrated companion animal health surveillance system are highly interlinked and often driven by value. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The results of this study will be used to inform development of a companion animal health surveillance system that incorporates One Health principles through the integration of data relating environmental and public health.