Hueston W D
Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maryland Campus, 8075 Greenmead Drive, College Park, MD, USA.
Prev Vet Med. 2003 Jul 30;60(1):3-12. doi: 10.1016/s0167-5877(03)00078-3.
Public policy decisions underlie society's response to current animal health issues ranging from emerging diseases and public health threats to food safety concerns and sustainable animal agriculture strategies. Despite strong calls for "science-based" decisions, animal health policy most commonly emerges at the interface of science and politics. Too often scientists' disdain for politics limits their involvement in formulating policy. By contrast, epidemiologists are ideally qualified to bring scientific skills to complex policy issues through analytical, macro-epidemiological approaches that consider the economic, legal, and cultural context of policy issues as well as the biological and medical aspects. Risk analysis provides a systematic approach to evaluating animal health issues and comparing policy options. Capturing these opportunities for applied epidemiology requires an understanding of the policy-making process as well as the basic principles of epidemiology. Furthermore, epidemiology training programs must incorporate communications skill building and experiential learning opportunities in a team environment.
公共政策决策构成了社会对当前动物健康问题的应对基础，这些问题涵盖从新出现的疾病、公共卫生威胁到食品安全问题以及可持续动物农业战略等各个方面。尽管人们强烈呼吁做出“基于科学”的决策，但动物健康政策最常出现在科学与政治的交汇点上。科学家们往往对政治不屑一顾，这限制了他们参与政策制定。相比之下，流行病学家具备理想的资质，能够通过分析性的宏观流行病学方法，将科学技能应用于复杂的政策问题，这些方法会考虑政策问题的经济、法律和文化背景以及生物学和医学方面。风险分析为评估动物健康问题和比较政策选项提供了一种系统方法。抓住这些应用流行病学的机会需要了解决策过程以及流行病学的基本原则。此外，流行病学培训项目必须在团队环境中纳入沟通技能培养和实践学习机会。
