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June 9, 2016    For Immediate Release Contacts for Media, Interested Project Planning Participants, Individuals and/or Organizations:   George Lueddeke, PhD, Chair, One Health Education Task Force  glueddeke@aol.com     Tel: (+44) 023 8042 8966 Mob.: (+44) 7538 162191  Cheryl Stroud, DVM, PhD, Executive Director, One Health Commission cstroud@onehealthcommission.org Tel: (+1) 984-500-8593   _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Preparing society to create the world we need through ‘One Health’ education! Two leading international One Health groups, the One Health Commission and the One Health Initiative Autonomous pro bono Team are partnering to help create and promote a comprehensive global education revolution that supports curriculum innovation on the unifying interconnected health of humans, animals, and the environment that sustains all life on earth.  A Concept paper titled ‘Preparing society to create the world we need through ‘One Health’ education has been released calling for interested parties to step forward to help with planning. The One Health concept encompasses a wide range of global public health and comparative medicine endeavors. Dr. George Lueddeke, one of the “One Health” educational project leaders and author of a new One Health oriented book on global population health and well-being, said that, “In keeping with the UN 2030 global Agenda for Sustainability, there is an urgent need for collective action by policy-makers, public / private educators, and health professionals to provide global ONE HEALTH learning opportunities across the education spectrum.”   We must give younger generations in both low and high income nations “a better deal” for helping to shape a sustainable world, one that is being tested severely by a threatened environment, conflicts, inequities, poverty, ideological extremes, and consumerism. Time is running short. As one example, data from the Living Planet Index (2014) should “make us stop and think”: “in less than two human generations, population sizes of vertebrate species have dropped by half. These are the living forms that constitute the fabric of the ecosystems which sustain life on earth and the barometer of what we are doing to our planet, our only home.” “It is becoming increasingly clear that realigning our relationship with the planet and ourselves  rests not with individuals or groups who follow their own narrow self- interests - corporate, political, ideological - but with people who value collaborative approaches to these challenges and who embrace a bolder, broader more hopeful scope of human existence within a sustainable world”, Lueddeke said. The two groups will work closely with global partners (social, economic, environmental) and support One Health projects led by teachers who want to make a difference.  Adequate funding is being sought and would be made available for innovative curriculum development and implementation beginning in primary/secondary schools and extending through graduate and professional education. A small pre-project proposal conference is being organized with a goal of achieving consensus on a strong plan to fund the envisioned global learning program. The longer term aim is to establish a multi-dimensional coordinating mechanism to define project parameters, encourage project proposals, prioritize and allocate funding for One Health themed curriculum development projects at local, national and regional levels and evaluate outcomes worldwide. #### About the initiators:   The One Health Commission is a globally focused 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to promoting improved health of people, domestic animals, wildlife, plants and the environment. Committed to creating unifying interactions and opportunities between animal health, human health and planetary health, it is a gateway for the active exchange of One Health-related knowledge, sharing of resources and collaborative projects that reach beyond disciplinary boundaries. Working to train the next generation of One Health leaders, the Commission seeks to ‘Connect’ One Health Advocates, to ‘Create’ networks and teams that work together across disciplines to ‘Educate’ about One Health and One Health issues. It does this by leading and facilitating active One Health education initiatives around the world. It is the parent organization for the One Health Education Task Force.   www.onehealthcommission.org The One Health Initiative Autonomous pro bono Team was originally established in 2006-2007.  The One Health Initiative website, originated October 2008, has been called the international clearing house for significant One Health information and by some the New York Times of One Health.” Its world-wide circulation has been strengthened by its up-to-date One Health News, Publications and Upcoming Events postings relative to animal, human and environmental health.  It is currently estimated to be accessed monthly by roughly 20,000 individual visitors from over 150 countries.  The OHI website is known to have had at least 119 reciprocal links worldwide.  Among the leading high profile search engines the One Health Initiative website is listed first or among the first when either “One Health Initiative” or “One Health” are searched. www.onehealthinitiative.com