One Health can provide a safe, 'no judgment zone' for many needed conversations surrounding our most difficult global and environmental health challenges.
This is a webpage where many items can be shared, from peer reviewed scientific case studies to examples of One Health successes (or missed opportunities) to Op Eds and Opinion Pieces.
Opinions expressed here are not necessarily approved by the One Health Commission but are shared ‘because’ this is a safe, no judgement zone and we need to hear from many perspectives on many of today’s challenges. Thoughtful articles written in a professional tone will be considered for posting. Submit suggested items to ohc@onehealthcommission.org.
“Swamp Boy” tells the tale of a bright 14-year-old boy who suddenly hears demonic voices and experiences sudden-onset psychosis—He thinks he’s turning into Swamp Thing, a green, plant-covered monster. The story follows his parent’s hellish journey into the medical system as they struggle to save their oldest son from permanent residency in a psychiatric ward. His psychiatrists are convinced he has schizophrenia—until his determined father solves the mystery behind his delusions, offering the family hope and a cure......Hint: It was Bartonellosis
Authors: Bruce Kaplan, Richard Siefman, Claude Forthomme In: IMPAKTER
Finding common ground between countries and institutions to deal with our common health future is still an uphill road at the upcoming G20 in Indonesia
"......We will have a better chance of suppressing infectious diseases if we adopt…a One Health approach and integrate predictive modeling and surveillance used in both infectious disease control and climate change.”
Authors: Aisha Nankanja and Laura Streichert In: PEAH
This forward-looking article tells us how grassroots efforts to improve water access in Uganda have been operationalized by the Rural Water Initiative for Climate Action (RWICA), a Uganda-based nonprofit aimed at empowering ‘communities to meet their water needs and build resilience to climate change by applying a One Health perspective’.
Supporters of One Health do not commonly look upon their efforts as being in competition in gaining attention with other compelling ideas. But there is some truth in this; the public commons have room for just so much, and if forced to choose between the immediate and later, the better or lesser publicized, it will invariably choose the former……The One Health Coordinator would inter alia share relevant research, and organize meetings and conferences, conceivably at a Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
A new One Health definition covers human, animal and eco-systems, but the latter is not part of the Joint External Evaluation (JEE). Working with UNEP to tailor specifics relevant to One Health would then serve as a pathway to include the ecosystem in JEE assessments.
Mass infections in wild birds pose a significant risk to vulnerable species, are hard to contain and increase the opportunity for the virus to spill over into people.
Researchers say that what is needed is a holistic approach that considers how avian influenza spreads through wild birds, poultry and people. Collaboration between public-health researchers and animal-health groups is vital for picking up spillover events into people. “If we control this in poultry, we control this in humans, and it’s likely that we control this in wild birds, as well,”
Authors: Shayan Sharif and Jeffrey J. Wichtel In: The Conversation
There is an urgent need for governments to invest in local and global initiatives that focus on the human-animal-environment interface of disease. One such investment includes funding higher education programs in One Health. These programs will prepare the next generation of Canadians to address societal grand challenges — like pandemic preparedness — with a One Health lens, enabling the formation of teams whose expertise transcends disciplinary boundaries…… Now, more than ever, we need to ensure that both local and global One Health initiatives are developed as a core component of planning preparedness for future pandemics.
"Because global health is much more than an industry matter, and One Health is critically multi-sectoral with implications much beyond the human health sector, it should be given its own space on the WEF agenda."
"we would invoke the concept of All Life Protection which promotes and augments the concept of #OneHealth [2, 24] by fundamentally emphasizing not only the health of all life forms but also the wellbeing and protection of such. We are running out of time to make major changes in the current trajectory of many of our practices and it will be increasingly important for us to go beyond human protection, animal protection, and environmental protection and recognize the oneness of all life. .............
Zoos increasingly are turning to medical professionals who treat people to find solutions for ailing animals. The collaboration has been especially helpful in the field of prosthetics and orthotics.
Authors: Bonni Beltramo, Lisa Slager, Lindsey Wall, Soumya Kolluru
Advisors: Drs. Kai Ostwald, Drona Rasali, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver
This report was commissioned by the British Columbia, Canada non-profit organization, Genome BC. A group of University of British Columbia students in the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs (MPPGA) program explored implementation of One Health policies in Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangladesh, and Thailand, to find best practices that can inform and strengthen One Health policy implementation in British Columbia.
The agenda includes pressing issues in the region such as policy priorities to recover from COVID-19’s impacts on agrifood systems; the prevention of future pandemics through the One Health approach; investing in ecosystem restoration for agrifood systems; promoting investment and trade in agricultural products within Africa in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA); and ways to ensure women, youth and the poor are included in agrifood systems transformation.
