ZOOJEU: Using Q fever to highlight a participatory science approach for fostering the co-design of management strategies for neglected zoonotic diseases

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. Results The comic strip highlighted issues related to Q fever for the stakeholders. The game was played by 23 stakeholders divided into three sets of players; each set of players included at least one farmer. The players were asked to collectively analyse a situation in which a goat farm is experiencing Q-fever-induced abortions. The players were invited to explain their perspectives and actions using game figures representing elements with which different stakeholders engage with regularly and/or in the context of a zoonosis. The goal was to establish a shared vision of what was happening on the farm. Conclusion The approach appeared to be effective in establishing a common narrative and fostering a more democratic approach to public health while simultaneously accounting for human, animal, environmental, and social health concerns. Its utility as an educational tool should be explored further.