Tools and Frameworks for Governance: A Narrative Review of Qualitative Risk Analysis in the One Health Context

Complex health events require integrated methodological approaches and collaboration across different sectors. Among integrative and multidisciplinary methodologies, qualitative risk analysis enables a more comprehensive assessment of the characteristics under investigation by considering context-specific factors and conditions. However, important gaps remain regarding the identification of the most appropriate tools for investigations conducted within a One Health framework. Therefore, this narrative review aimed to identify the most suitable interdisciplinary strategy for investigating zoonotic diseases from a One Health perspective. Searches were conducted in the PubMed, Embase, and ScienceDirect databases, and original studies addressing risk analysis tools with an emphasis on qualitative methodologies were included. Information was extracted on the analytical tools employed, technical feasibility, reproducibility, risk assessment criteria, and their potential application in public health research. Among the identified approaches, those incorporating probabilistic criteria for risk assessment stood out, particularly those capable of addressing health threats at the human–animal–environment interface while considering health, environmental, social, and anthropogenic factors, in addition to strengthening public health surveillance systems. Some methodologies were also found to be valuable as complementary tools in data-scarce settings. Although no single approach was able to encompass all these attributes, the Joint Risk Assessment Operational Tool (JRA-OT) and Disease Risk Analysis (DRA) demonstrated greater flexibility and adaptability to different contexts, particularly when combined with complementary methods, highlighting their potential for managing complex health events.