One Health Publications

Heightened attention to One Health is far from “Mission Accomplished” but the World Bank and UN agencies have come forward with strongest call yet for pandemic prevention

“In the midst of all of the bad news – war, inflation, food insecurity, and COVID – there is a sliver of potentially good news that can have important benefits for all: The renewed focus on the prevention of future pandemics – and it’s happening in the midst of renewed attention to One Health as a driving concept in global public health. …”

By *Richard Seifman, JD, MBA — October 25, 2022  in Health, Society

*Member One Health Initiative Autonomous pro bono Team:

Laura H. Kahn, MD, MPH, MPP ▪ Bruce Kaplan, DVM ▪ Thomas P. Monath, MD ▪ *Lisa A. Conti, DVM, MPH ▪ Thomas M. Yuill, PhD ▪ Helena J. Chapman, MD, MPH, PhD ▪ Craig N. Carter, DVM, PhD ▪ Becky Barrentine, MBA ▪ Richard Seifman, JD, MBA  *Deceased November 6, 2020

History of the One Health Initiative team and website

Date:  October 23, 2022

More, SEE:  https://conta.cc/3MYLt4I

This message is shared by the One Health Commission.

Cheryl Stroud, DVM, PhD

Executive Director

cstroud@onehealthcommission.org

“… These events highlight the importance of a One Health approach to design relevant, feasible and implementable solutions to prevent, mitigate and respond rapidly to future outbreaks. …”

“Conclusion

Infectious diseases will continue to emerge, especially RNA viruses such as influenza A and coronaviruses, which have the propensity to mutate and/or recombine among strains affecting multiple host species.

History shows that the world has failed to heed the lessons from past EIDs.

Despite Malaysia having fought many outbreaks such as Nipah, avian influenza, SARS, EV71 and Covid-19, it is imperative that we build a better framework based on One Health approach to respond rapidly to the next outbreak and pandemic.”

“A One Health approach is being used to manage the epidemic response.”

“… The Strategy recognizes that a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary One Health approach to the national biodefense enterprise is necessary to counter biological threats effectively and efficiently. …”

“… Taking advantage of cutting-edge laboratory techniques and the latest in behavioral science, “One Health” multi-sectoral approaches will help reduce the risk of disease transmission at the human-agriculture-ecosystem interface. And across food systems, from farm to table, digital tools will bring new improvements to food availability, access, stability, quality and safety, and nutritional outcomes, all while promoting inclusive agriculture-led economic growth. …”

 Abstract

Current economic, social, and environmental trajectories within most world regions are unsustainable, whereas the One Health movement appears as a conglomeration with many different players and often uncoordinated actions. We explore the options to increase cooperation and systemic strategies to improve the impact on people and politics.

Methods: Starting from the websites collected by the One Health Commission (OHC) and the One Health Initiative (OHI), we identified 291 websites of One Health organizations (as of 29 July 2022: 126 Civil Society Organizations, 135 academic, and 30 governmental organizations) and searched for organization, transparency, and focus of work, using MAXQDA 2022 for a mixed-methods analysis.

Results: Looking at the organizations’ websites, we found significant structural deficits: Although 63.2% refer to One Health in the organization’s name and almost all list a task profile, concrete projects for the years 2021/2 seem rare or not reported, including publications and especially budgetary information. The kind and number of members are published only by 46.2%. We observed further dominance of US-based organizations, veterinarians, and physicians among the individuals named. The social sciences – sociology and economy in particular – are underrepresented.

Conclusions: The World Bank called already in 2010 for a permanent system of international One Health surveillance and response instead of ‘prevailing temporary arrangements and uncoordinated duplication of efforts.’ Bottom-up and top-down: coordinated action from both sides is essential to secure long-term success. Innovative ideas are often conceptualized bottom-up; supportive leadership carrying forward and stabilizing initiatives is mandatory to secure a long-term perspective and permanent progress. Therefore, we call for a global One Health Communications Alliance to enhance synergy and collaboration, administrated by an adjunct close to the UN Secretary-General in a “force multiplier role”. This office may be inaugurated in a special session of the United Nations General Assembly on One Health.

Provided by:

*Prof. Dr. med. Ulrich Laaser DTM&H, MPH

Faculty of Health Sciences, Bielefeld University

POB 10 01 31, D-33501 Bielefeld, Germany

E-mail: ulrich.laaser@uni-bielefeld.de; laaseru@gmail.com

Orcid: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5889-4471?lang=en

South Eastern European Journal of Public Health www.seejph.com

*Dr. Laaser is a prominent physician One Health leader who collaborates with the One Health Commission (OHC) and the One Health Initiative Autonomous pro bono Team (OHI).

” This opinion was first published in Health: A Political Choice – Investing in Health For All, A Global Governance Project publication published by GT Media Group Ltd

The high-carbon, throwaway economic models that built our societies have also caused great harm to the environment and the biodiversity it hosts – the very basics we really upon to live. Our economic system has made the planet sick. Now it is making us and other species sick.

However, if governments make the political choice to follow a One Health approach as part of broader systemic transformations to end the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste, we can heal the planet and ourselves.

The health benefits of the natural world are incalculable. Nature gives us breathable air, drinkable water and productive soils. Nature gives us medicines, traditional and new. Nature provides a buffer against emerging zoonotic diseases. Time spent in nature improves health outcomes across the board, from stress to hyperactivity.  …”

News from the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences – Colorado State University (USA)

“… By now One Health is a concept that all within the veterinary field—and many beyond it—know well: the inextricable relationships between human, animal, and environmental health. Redding, whose own National Institutes of Health-funded research has focused on the use of antibiotics and the impact of harmful and helpful microbes on livestock, pet, and human health, will be exploring all of those components in a few projects with tight links to the Center, in collaboration with the Perelman School of Medicine, the School of Dental Medicine, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. …”

GREEN PLANET

“A healthy environment is not only a key ingredient for human health and well-being, but also a foundation for One Health since the health of humans, animals, plants, and the wider environment and ecosystems are closely linked and inter-dependent,” says Cristina Zucca, who coordinates work on pollution, environment and health at UNEP. “This calls for action at the individual and policy levels to create a healthy environment that promotes mental health.”

“The One Health Section focuses on the linkages among humans, animals and the environment through the One Health concept. One Health promotes a framework for the holistic understanding of factors impacting our increasingly connected world. The One Health Section encourages team-oriented approaches to solve complex health problems based on the understanding that health across all sectors is interrelated. Our members come together to discuss ways to promote the optimal health of people, domestic animals, wildlife, plants and our environment.  …”

Abstract

COVID-19 is the latest zoonotic RNA virus epidemic of concern. Learning how it began and spread will help to determine how to reduce the risk of future events. We review major RNA virus outbreaks since 1967 to identify common features and opportunities to prevent emergence, including ancestral viral origins in birds, bats, and other mammals; animal reservoirs and intermediate hosts; and pathways for zoonotic spillover and community spread, leading to local, regional, or international outbreaks. The increasing scientific evidence concerning the origins of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is most consistent with a zoonotic origin and a spillover pathway from wildlife to people via wildlife farming and the wildlife trade. We apply what we know about these outbreaks to identify relevant, feasible, and implementable interventions. We identify three primary targets for pandemic prevention and preparedness: first, smart surveillance coupled with epidemiological risk assessment across wildlife–livestock–human (One Health) spillover interfaces; second, research to enhance pandemic preparedness and expedite development of vaccines and therapeutics; and third, strategies to reduce underlying drivers of spillover risk and spread and reduce the influence of misinformation. For all three, continued efforts to improve and integrate biosafety and biosecurity with the implementation of a One Health approach are essential. We discuss new models to address the challenges of creating an inclusive and effective governance structure, with the necessary stable funding for cross-disciplinary collaborative research. Finally, we offer recommendations for feasible actions to close the knowledge gaps across the One Health continuum and improve preparedness and response in the future.

For more information about One Health and what you can do to promote it, the One Health Initiative and the One Health Commission publish regular blogs and news. One Health Day – November 3rd – will see many organisations hosting articles and events to promote One Health. Look out for how you can get involved, or even how your work is already promoting One Health in some way…may be you are already a One Health Champion without even realising it!