Expert knowledge elicitation to determine the relative importance of potentially foodborne parasitic diseases in Armenia.

Reliable prioritization of foodborne parasitic diseases is challenging in settings where routine surveillance and attribution data are limited. For example, In Armenia, the relative importance of different foodborne parasitoses has not previously been assessed. This study applied expert knowledge elicitation (EKE) to identify and rank foodborne parasitic diseases of public health relevance and to support national prioritization efforts. A structured questionnaire was administered to experts from human health, veterinary medicine, food safety, and biological sciences. Participants evaluated selected parasitic diseases according to predefined criteria including prevalence, geographic distribution, morbidity, mortality, diagnostic complexity, and environmental detectability. Responses were analysed using rank-based non-parametric methods, and regional patterns were visualized using geographic information systems. Ascariasis and echinococcosis were consistently ranked as the highest-priority foodborne parasitic diseases, clearly separated from all others. Giardiasis ranked third, while fascioliasis, toxoplasmosis, and trichinellosis formed a moderate-priority group. Cryptosporidiosis, taeniasis, and anisakiasis were assigned low priority. Professional background and geographic region had only minor influence on ranking outcomes, indicating strong national consensus. The results demonstrate a distinct hierarchy of the opinions of experts regarding foodborne parasitic risks in Armenia, driven by disease burden, environmental exposure, and diagnostic visibility. This study illustrates the value of EKE for evidence-based prioritization in data-limited settings and provides a foundation for targeted surveillance, control strategies, and One Health-oriented food safety policies. It would nevertheless be of value to investigate whether this prioritization is supported by medical records and reports from analysis of food matrices, soil samples, and water bodies for elucidating transmission routes.