The ecohealth approach promoted by IDRC is largely accepted by the ecohealth community. While ecohealth has been promoted for a relatively long time in Latin America and Africa, it has only been more recently introduced in South East Asia (SEA). Ecohealth is useful for addressing health and environmental issues in developing countries, in particular in SEA where agricultural intensification processes have profound implications for ecosystems and health. However, using the ecohealth approach to comprehensively tackle complex issues requires individual, institutional and country capacity in understanding and applying this approach within the context of the region. Thus, this program aims at advancing ecohealth in SEA through a field building leadership initiative (FBLI). The overall objective is to build the field of ecohealth by integrating research, training, policy and networking to focus on solving human health problems associated with agricultural intensification in SEA countries.

Using a diverse range of methods and activities – including the “site-based research”’ concept – supported by national and regional networking events, the FBLI will implement three interlinked components: i) research – serving as the backbone of the initiative for other components and employing ecohealth approaches to address ecosystem and health issues related to agricultural intensification; ii) capacity building – strengthening ecohealth capacity and leadership through university degree training, training-of-trainers activities, and future leaders training and development; and iii) knowledge translation – promoting dialogue between the research and policy communities, and building capacity to translate research evidence to inform and influence policy decisions. A Regional Core Group – comprising representatives from a consortium of seven partner institutions from the region with solid experience in ecohealth – will implement the program in close collaboration with national partners, other regional and global ecohealth networks, and IDRC.