What is One Health?

The foundational principle behind the "One Health" concept involves taking a holistic, ecological approach to examine and address public health concerns by considering the interconnectedness between human, animal, and environmental health [1-5]. In other words, human, animal, and environmental health all impact one another, and to achieve optimal health outcomes in all three domains then their impacts on each other should be considered.

To achieve optimal health, the "One Health" concept/approach involves tailoring together a relevant multidisciplinary collaborative team (such as physicians, veterinarians, academic researchers spanning different disciplines, data scientists, etc) across the "local, national, and/or global level" [1-4]. This is done to gather diverse perspectives, and focused expertise, to examine and address public health concerns, specifically involving human and animal health in conjunction with environmental impacts [1-4]. Some of the many examples of complex public health problems that benefit from a One Health approach range from examining antimicrobial resistance, zoonotic transmission, effects of an increasing human population and globalization, the effects of social and economic determinants of health on the human-animal bond, and much more. [References at end of email message]

Can your research benefit from taking a One Health approach? Join the One Health Student Group and let's discuss together! Future events include speaker seminars, journal article discussions, virtual collaborative events, and more.