Engaging Canada's farmers and agricultural workers in surveillance and containment of pandemics

Recent pandemics, including SARS, SARS-CoV-2, H1N1 and mpox, have revealed substantial gaps in Canada's early warning and surveillance systems. A One Health approach compels us to focus at the interfaces between rapid environmental change, animal disease, and humans at most at risk of infection. The agricultural sector is a critical "point of entry" for novel pathogens. One possible risk is Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), which has the potential to trigger a new pandemic that would result in significant morbidity and mortality. Farmers and agricultural workers, among the most vulnerable segments of the labour market, frequently come into direct contact with animals and are among those at greatest risk. It is crucial to anticipate and address challenges to engaging Canada's farmers and agricultural workers in surveillance and containment. Using a community-engaged research approach, our goal is to engage Canadian farmers and agricultural workers in co-designing and shaping surveillance systems and containment approaches. We will tailor surveillance tools and response strategies to their unique needs and circumstances. Building on this, we will pilot active human surveillance in farms. This work builds on the Pandemic Preparedness Engaging Primary Care and Emergency Departments (PREPARED) initiative, funded by the Canadian Biomedical Research Fund, that implements active surveillance within primary care clinics and emergency departments. Our project builds on existing relationships and will result in a new partnership between farmers, agricultural workers, public health and academics. This will establish a foundation for future efforts to quickly identify and respond to emerging pathogens and outbreaks.