Animal & Human Health for the Environment And Development (AHEAD) was launched by WCS and a consortium of organizations at the 2003 IUCN World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa.

AHEAD is a convening, facilitative mechanism, working to create enabling environments that allow different and often competing sectors to literally come to the same table and find collaborative ways forward to address challenges at the interface of wildlife health, livestock health, and human health and livelihoods. AHEAD convenes stakeholders, helps delineate conceptual frameworks to underpin planning, management and research, and provides technical support and resources for projects stakeholders identify as priorities. AHEAD recognizes the need to look at health and disease not in isolation but within a given region's socioeconomic and environmental context. In short, AHEAD recognizes the importance of animal and human health to both conservation and development interests.