Front Vet Sci . Assessing stakeholder inclusion within high pathogenicity avian influenza risk governance strategies in the United Kingdom and United States

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Front Vet Sci


. 2025 Apr 17:12:1547628.
doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1547628. eCollection 2025. Assessing stakeholder inclusion within high pathogenicity avian influenza risk governance strategies in the United Kingdom and United States

Kimberly Lyons ¹ , Darrell R Kapczynski ² , Samantha J Lycett ³ , Paul Digard ³ , Lisa Boden ⁴



Affiliations

• PMID: 40313635
• PMCID: PMC12043875
• DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1547628

Abstract

Since 2020, outbreaks of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) have led to a global rise in deaths of both wild birds and poultry, as well as an increase in reported cases of HPAI detected in mammals. These outbreaks have had negative impacts on poultry producers, trade, and wild bird populations. Risk governance frameworks for emerging infectious diseases such as HPAI encourage outbreak policies to be grounded in a variety of stakeholder perspectives and for there to be effective, transparent communication between all those involved. However, the COVID-19 pandemic exemplified how collaboration is not always easy to implement, leading to potentially sub-optimal outbreak response processes. To our best knowledge, there is limited to no current research assessing the stakeholder landscape and outbreak decision-making and response processes in the United Kingdom (UK) and United States of America (USA) for the recent HPAI outbreak. In this study, 20 key stakeholders involved in outbreak decision-making and response in the United Kingdom and United States were asked to provide their insights into the structure of stakeholder landscape, communication pathways, and challenges in decision-making and response implementation for their respective countries. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants from the United Kingdom and United States; participants included policy advisors, veterinarians, researchers, and poultry industry representatives all involved in HPAI outbreak processes in their country. From these interviews, stakeholder maps for all those involved in HPAI decision-making and response were created for the UK and USA. This study concluded that smallholders and backyard poultry owners need to be better represented in policy-industry communication pathways and that improved information sharing at the policy-science and policy-industry interfaces is essential to ensure an efficient outbreak response.

Keywords: avian flu; avian influenza; risk governance; stakeholder; stakeholder map.

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Excerpts from 4 Discussion:

Ensuring trust and transparency between government and bird owners is also imperative to HPAI reporting, as early detection of the virus relies on premises recognizing HPAI symptoms and reporting suspected cases to the appropriate authorities (86). A study conducted in the Netherlands by Elbers et al. (87) found that confusion around clinical signs of HPAI, lack of trust in government, and a lack of transparency in the notification procedures and reporting process were among the reasons that farmers would be inclined not to report suspected HPAI. This once again highlights the need to maintain relationships at the policy-industry interface, as rapid detection and response cannot take place if bird owners are not inclined to report HPAI in the first place.

The UK and USA both have initiatives aimed at sharing information with backyard farmers and small holders and encouraging the implementation of biosecurity. Defra hosts regular webinars titled ‘Stop the Spread’ for bird owners to learn how to best prevent HPAI on their premises and what biosecurity measures they should be undertaking (88). Similarly, ‘Defend the Flock’ is a program run by the USDA aimed at anybody who owns or works with birds. This program provides information regarding the importance of biosecurity and how to properly implement it (89). Given that interview participants indicated that both the UK and USA governments had made efforts to improve relationships with bird owners, follow-up research should be conducted to determine the strength of these programs and whether there has been improvement in farm-level biosecurity application by backyard owners and smallholders.
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While risk governance processes often rely upon policymakers and risk assessments, enacting these processes requires collaboration and input from a wide variety of impacted stakeholders across the science-policy-industry interface. This is supported by the new global strategy published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and WOAH, who call for inclusion of all impacted sectors in HPAI control strategies, including the agricultural, public health, and environmental sectors (90). The UK and USA have established procedures to deal with a HPAI outbreak, but risk governance processes may not always function as intended. It is therefore important that the UK and USA ensure transparent communication and collaboration among stakeholders involved in HPAI outbreak processes so that all decision-makers and response implementers can carry out their role in preventing a HPAI incursion and maintaining disease-free status in their country. Continuous engagement and inclusion of all relevant sectors is a priority to ensure good risk governance processes in the prevention and management of HPAI and other zoonotic diseases.