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.
See digital One Health stories in a Virtual One Health Exhibition shared by researchers from the Center for International Health CIHLMU and the European University Alliance for Global Health.
To see peer reviewed scientific articles visit the Commission's online One Health Library Journal Articles/White Papers Section.
".....to sustain the planet and its people in the long term requires making a fundamental mind - or paradigm shift this century: moving away from a stance held by many stakeholders, such a Governments and Big Business, that see, as Pope Francis laments, 'the world as a means to an end'[14], and 'a place made especially for humans and a place without limits'[15] to one that recognises that the survival of the planet and people depends on evolving a future that is 'compatible with our needs as human beings but also an outer world that is compatible with the needs of our ecosystem'[15]. The overarching goal - the common denominator to pull us together regardless of 'race, colour, religion, sex, or national origin' - must surely be creating 'healthy people on a healthy planet'[16]."
Today the world is celebrating “One Health Day.” Sometimes great ideas appear simple, even intuitive: the One Health concept was created to demonstrate that the health of people and animals are interconnected, and that these are in turn, inextricably bound to the health of the environment on which all life depends………. The World Bank has been an early adopter of “One Health” as a collaborative approach for strengthening systems to prevent, prepare, and respond to infectious diseases and related issues such as antimicrobial resistance that threaten human, animal and environmental health. …. Celebrating One Health Day is a good way to recognize the interconnectedness of things and the continuing need for transformative approaches to solving critical global health challenges concerning human-animal-ecosystem interfaces
Recent disease outbreaks have drastically threatened local and global health as well as country development. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa, beginning in late 2013 and continuing into 2016, resulted in over 28,600 cases, reducing gross domestic product growth in all three highly affected countries as well as disrupting progress in other key development priorities, including educational attainment, vaccination campaigns and management or treatment of disease such as HIV/AIDS, and malaria, food security, and poverty reduction. Agricultural production has been heavily affected by past zoonotic disease outbreaks such as highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses, Nipah virus, and Rift Valley fever virus, resulting in economic impacts to the agricultural industry and livelihoods associated with it.
Inter-professional scientific and medical thinking are changing, as all things must. Beyond the component of patient care, what elements of modern biomedical science might benefit from, and contribute to, a global One Health? In this discussion, I examine the evolution and anthropology of dog origins and domestication.
Antimicrobial resistance is a globally recognized issue; therefore, efforts to combat this problem have been initiated by international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) as well as national antibiotic action plans in the United States, the European Union, and other countries. Many associations, stakeholders and professional societies have made commitments to fulfilling various components of these plans to combat antimicrobial resistance.
SAN ANTONIO, Aug. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Envision our world as three circles representing people, animals, and the environment. At the moment, these separate shapes only slightly overlap and share a small, happy space nicknamed the"Ray of Hope for the Future." That ray of hope is One Health—a growing movement that envisions a path to planetary health through One Health education and collaborations. With an excited leader at its helm, the One Health Commission is poised to encourage the merging of those three circles into one unified, healthy world.
The scientific community is keenly aware that the continued emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a real and significant threat to both human and animal health and wellbeing. The science of AMR is complex and complicated. As well, the politics involved are equally complex. Tradition has seen every sector engaged in the debate trying to find a reason to blame someone else for the problem. It is time to get past assigning blame, move out of our silos, and try and find a means of cross-sector collaboration. Every sector in animal and human health has a role to play. It is imperative that we identify the areas we might engage in to ensure the integrity and availability of antimicrobial therapeutic agents for both animals and humans
Human existence is deeply embedded in the natural world and the survival of all species, including our own,is wholly dependent on a healthy planet. But the health of our planet is in serious trouble. Attempts by scientists, technical professionals, and policymakers to understand and solve many of the problems being confronted today have been fragmented, short-sighted and outpaced by the rate at which the world changes and catastrophic events occur. Time is running short. More...
The terminology "One Health" has been used for several years (decades actually) but continues to gain understanding today. One Health is the inextricable linkage of human, animal, and plant sciences, and our environment. It is easy to appreciate how all of these elements affect the other, whether we are talking about global warming or diseases. More...
The recently agreed UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), present exciting and meaningful opportunities to explore approaches for implementing these on a global scale. However, while the UN Agenda has been carefully crafted, much work remains in terms of translating broad vision and goals into practice on the ground and in finding ways or systems not only of 'doing things better' -the traditional approach to change - but also -and arguably much more important - of learning to do 'better things,' engaging in transformative - often 'out of the box’ – holistic thinking and interventions. This article provides a starting point in this direction as it calls for a better understanding of the many social, economic, ecological and geopolitical hurdles we face, the global goals to which nations are asked to aspire and their relationship to an interdependent and interconnected planet, which must support the health and well-being of all species - humans, animals, plants – ensuring their survival in an increasingly threatened environment.
