2.1 Study design and sampling
An online cross-sectional study was set up to investigate the users’ perceptions (e.g. needs, preferences and constraints) of animal health platforms and risk analysis tools. The study population consisted of professionals around the globe whose professional activities involved the use of different platforms; either animal health or risk analysis tools or both. For this, a survey was produced and distributed in two ways. First emails, requesting participation in the proposed online questionnaire were sent to 573 professionals at different international levels. Most of them were known professional contact points who were previously or at the time involved in animal or human health activities. A snowball sampling strategy was then used (Lupo et al., 2016) where certain first wave respondents were asked to distribute the questionnaire link to other pertinent persons via e-mail. Therefore, the same email was sent by the OIE to country focal points responsible for notifying animal diseases.