Need for Enhanced Environmental Representation in the Implementation of One Health

• Published in: EcoHealth Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 212 - 219
• Main Authors: Barrett, Meredith A, Bouley, Timothy A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal Ecology; Collaboration; Cooperative Behavior; Ecosystem; Ecosystems; emerging diseases; Environmental changes; Environmental Health; Environmental Health - organization & administration; Environmental science; Forum; global change; Global health; Humans; Interdisciplinary Communication; Interinstitutional Relations; leadership; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Medicine - organization & administration; Microbiology; plants (botany); Public Health; Public Health Administration; Public policy; Social sciences; Social Sciences - organization & administration; Veterinary medicine; Veterinary Medicine - organization & administration; Water and Health; transdisciplinary; ecohealth; ecology; collaboration; ecosystem health; ecosystem approaches to health; zoonotic disease; One Health
• ISSN: 1612-9202; 1612-9210
• DOI: 10.1007/s10393-014-0964-5

Issues of global environmental change, global health, emerging disease, and sustainability present some of the most complex challenges of the twenty-first century. Individual disciplines cannot address these issues in isolation. Proactive, innovative, and trans-disciplinary solutions are required. Recognizing the inherent connectedness of humans, animals, plants, and their shared environment, One Health encourages the collaboration of many disciplines—including human and veterinary medicine, public health, social science, public policy, environmental science, and others—to address global and local health challenges. Despite great progress in this shift toward transdisciplinarity, the environmental component of the One Health paradigm remains underrepresented in One Health discourse. Human and animal health issues are commonly discussed under the umbrella of the One Health paradigm, while upstream environmental drivers and solutions are less prominent. We assessed the current integration of environmental issues in One Health publications and leadership. There is room for enhanced integration of environmental knowledge in the implementation of One Health approaches. We discuss the potential benefits from the collaboration between One Health and ecohealth, and explore strategies for increased environmental involvement.