One World, One Health: Prevent Zoonoses, Stop the Spread
Dr Nidhish Bhardwaj
Senior Program Officer (OHSU), CII-Food and Agriculture Centre of Excellence
Email: Nidhish.bhardwaj@cii.in
Introduction
Zoonotic diseases are infectious diseases that can be transmitted between animals and humans, and can be caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi. Some examples of zoonotic diseases include Rabies, Ebola, Avian Influenza, Brucellosis, Nipah virus, Toxoplasmosis, Listeriosis, Scrub Typhus, Leptospirosis and COVID-19 etc. These diseases can have a significant impact on human health, causing illnesses ranging from mild to severe and even leading to death. Over the past two decades, numerous zoonotic disease outbreaks have occurred worldwide. The frequent interactions between animals, humans, and environment have increased the risk of new and recurring disease spillovers and their associated burdens. Addressing this intricate health challenge necessitates a multi-sectoral collaboration known as the One Health approach. This article discusses that how adopting One Health approach can help us in preventing and stopping the spread of Zoonotic diseases locally and globally.
Keywords:Zoonoses, One Health, Emerging diseases, Public health, Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), Ecosystems.
Zoonoses and its impact
Emerging and re-emerging zoonoses pose a growing international threat, with 60% of all human pathogens and 75% of emerging infectious diseases originating from animals. In the past two decades, zoonoses have caused substantial economic and public health loss worldwide. Some zoonoses, like Ebola virus disease, salmonellosis, rabies, and anthrax, can cause recurring outbreaks, while others, such as the novel coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, have the potential to trigger global pandemics. Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) are the diseases which were previously present but now they are expanding rapidly in new geographical areas and infecting new hosts. Due to the interconnected nature of humans, animals, and the environment globally, a disease threat in one area can quickly become a threat everywhere. Many emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) originate from wildlife, often resulting from the dynamic interactions among human, wildlife, and livestock populations, as well as rapidly changing environments. Consequently, zoonotic diseases may become a major public health and economic challenge worldwide in the coming decades. Thus, a strong multi-sectoral collaborative and institutional approach, referred to as the One Health approach, is crucial for effectively mitigating the impact of these zoonoses.
Climate Change and its impact
Our climate is changing rapidly. As the planet warms, infectious diseases that were previously confined to warmer regions are gradually spreading to new areas. Zoonotic diseases, in particular, are exploiting the expanded range made available by climate change. Vector-borne pathogens, a subset of zoonoses, present a growing risk to human health. Climate change has altered temperatures in various regions, leading to increased infection rates in areas that were previously free from certain diseases. Furthermore, climate change is causing people’s general health to deteriorate, making it easier for zoonotic infection to spread as seen with the Zika and dengue viruses, which are now global threats. Climate change and rising temperatures contribute to the spread of zoonotic hosts and vectors, thereby increasing the human population’s exposure to vector-borne diseases. Increased temperatures boost the reproduction rates of both pathogens and vectors. Moreover, rising temperatures lead to a higher prevalence of foodborne infections.
Global Challenges and One Health
The risk of emerging and reemerging disease spillovers has increased due to extensive interactions among animals, humans, and ecosystems. Therefore, addressing this complex health threat necessitates a multi-sectoral collaboration known as the One Health approach. One World, One Health is a concept that promotes a collaborative approach to prevent and address zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and other public health challenges. The concept integrates human, animal, and environmental health at the policy and programmatic levels. Due to global interconnectedness, a disease threat in one area is a threat everywhere. The extensive interactions among animals, humans, and ecosystems, driven by factors such as the tremendous growth of livestock and human populations, rapid urbanization, changing farming systems, close wildlife and domestic animal interactions, forest encroachment, habitat destruction, ecosystem changes, global trade of animals and animal products, antimicrobial resistance, and climate change, have increased the risk of emerging and reemerging disease spillovers. Land use changes from improper and overuse of natural resources, coupled with climate change effects like floods, droughts, forest fires, and heat waves, have severely degraded entire ecosystems, reducing natural defences against disease emergence. On the other hand, wildlife habitat fragmentation due to infrastructure development, urbanization, and unregulated exploitation through extensive hunting, trade, and consumption has decreased biodiversity, increased disease vector and host interaction, and aggravated disease spillover among wild animals, domestic animals, and humans. Antimicrobial resistance due to the misuse of antibiotics and other medicines, particularly in animal husbandry, obstruct the treatment of diseases and resistant microorganisms. Environmental pollution has facilitated the spread of diseases through water, air, and soil. Additionally, foodborne pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites have contributed to the global disease burden. Presently, food safety faces multiple challenges, including population growth and migration, changes in food production and distribution systems, globalization of the food trade, increased meat consumption, and frequent consumption of meat by humans. These factors can lead to ongoing contamination and foodborne diseases. Consumption of contaminated food results in illness and death for many people each year. The sources of these foodborne illnesses include animal products, fruits, vegetables, and contaminated water. Guaranteeing food safety necessitates a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach. This complex and interconnected health threat, based on interactions among animals, humans, and the environment, necessitates inter-sectoral integration and collaboration. This not only helps reduce the burden but also facilitates effective prevention and control of all zoonotic diseases in the future. This objective can be accomplished through the One Health approach and its mechanisms for coordination. The One Health approach serves as an effective platform for organizing all relevant stakeholders from animal, human, environmental, and other sectors. It can offer substantial benefits to health sectors and their development goals by bringing together the appropriate governmental agencies. However, the implementation mechanisms of the One Health approach to reduce and prevent zoonotic diseases remain poorly understood and have received little attention in India and other developing countries. The One Health concept is particularly relevant when considering the complex challenges of the 21st century. Globalization and rapid urbanization have significantly increased the interconnectedness of people, animals, and goods across borders, aggravating the spread of diseases.
Importance of One Health approach
Animals and humans share a common ecosystem and are susceptible to many of the same microorganisms. For instance, most zoonotic diseases such as rabies, anthrax, and brucellosis can be prevented in humans by controlling the animal sources of these pathogens. Drug-resistant microorganisms can spread between humans and animals via contaminated food and direct contact. Environmental pollution, ecosystem destruction, antimicrobial resistance (often due to antibiotics misuse), and consumption of contaminated food (leading to foodborne illnesses from animal products, fruits, vegetables, and contaminated water) are significant issues that cannot be effectively managed by any single sector alone.
To address these interconnected challenges effectively, a well-coordinated One Health approach across human, animal, and environmental sectors is essential. One Health is an interdisciplinary, multi-sectoral, and collaborative approach that operates at global, regional, national, and local levels. Its main objective is to improve health outcomes by understanding and addressing the links between the environment, humans, animals, and plants. This comprehensive and cohesive approach can address and prevent health threats that arise at the intersection of the environment, humans, animals, and plants. Its goal is to achieve and sustainably balance or optimize public and animal health, ensure food and nutritional security, promote sustainable ecosystems, and facilitate fair trade. The One Health approach brings together different disciplines, sectors, and communities at various levels to work together in addressing health and ecosystem threats. It aims to collectively address the need for clean water, energy, and air, as well as safe and nutritious food. Additionally, it advocates for action on climate change and contributes to sustainable development. One Health represents a global model for challenge-driven teamwork, promoting inclusive collaboration across human, animal, plant, and environmental health domains on the same level. In terms of legislation and policy, the One Health approach can be implemented to enforce programs, policies, and laws through effective communication and cooperation across multiple sectors, ultimately aiming to improve public health outcomes.
The One Health approach is utilized for joint disease surveillance, controlling and preventing outbreaks of zoonotic diseases, improving food safety and security, and reducing antimicrobial resistance to enhance human and animal health. Through fostering robust collaboration among relevant sectors, the One Health approach bolsters disease surveillance systems, facilitates data sharing among stakeholders, strengthens diagnostic laboratory capabilities, and establishes networks for early detection and response to zoonoses. This approach significantly enhances the capacity of the zoonotic disease prevention and control workforce, ensuring effective and coordinated public health emergency preparedness. Overall, the One Health approach supports international health security by promoting effective multi-sectoral collaboration, coordination, and information exchange among relevant sectors, thereby addressing common health threats such as zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance, and food safety and security concerns.
Mechanisms to combat zoonotic diseases using One Health approach
To effectively combat zoonotic diseases, integrated activities are crucial at multiple levels, including grassroots, national, regional, and global levels. The operationalization of One Health requires cooperation and interdisciplinary dialogue. Research institutions play a pivotal role by collaborating extensively on emerging pathogens, disease spillover mechanisms, and the monitoring of prevention and control strategies for zoonotic and infectious diseases. Strong intersectoral collaboration across human and veterinary health, wildlife, and environmental sectors enhances joint surveillance capabilities, deepens understanding of zoonotic disease dynamics, and provides a framework for implementing effective health measures. It is imperative that every national public health institution and relevant organization institutionalizes One Health in their regular plans and activities. Countries should promote the integration of One Health principles into higher education curricula and research areas. Additionally, enhancing diagnostic laboratory capacities and ensuring government leadership commitment to the One Health approach are essential. Developing legal frameworks to support the implementation of the One Health approach involves identifying legal principles and institutional dynamics that transcend sector-specific legislation. This comprehensive approach is essential for addressing the interconnected health challenges posed by zoonotic diseases effectively. One Health approach can be implemented by following measures;
- Joint disease surveillance: It involves establishing coordinated surveillance systems across relevant sectors to detect zoonotic diseases early. The primary goal of these joint surveillance efforts is to identify disease events promptly and facilitate coordinated responses, as well as prevention and mitigation measures. This approach not only supports research efforts but also enhances understanding of disease burden, facilitates monitoring, and enables effective intervention strategies.
- Strengthening the laboratories: Strengthening laboratory capacity is critical for the successful prevention of zoonoses. This includes enhancing both sector-specific and multi-sectoral integration within laboratory systems. Conducting joint training and sharing laboratory protocols among responsible sectors under the One Health framework is essential for detecting pathogens consistently across sectors. Each laboratory should function as a reference facility and establish interconnected database networks spanning relevant sectors. This improves reporting mechanisms, facilitates data sharing, and enhances early detection of zoonotic disease outbreaks.
- Emergency preparedness and response: These are crucial for effectively managing zoonotic disease outbreaks. It is essential for relevant sectors to undergo training and coordinate their efforts to respond collectively to outbreaks, sharing resources efficiently to control costs associated with outbreak management. Each sector should develop a specific emergency preparedness platform tailored to their priority diseases. This approach should include participatory methods such as joint risk assessments, simulation exercises, and the development of preparedness and contingency plans to enhance readiness and response capabilities.
- Capacity Building of Professionals: It is essential to establish a skilled global, regional, and national One Health workforce comprising public health professionals, veterinarians, wildlife experts, environmental scientists, laboratory technicians, and epidemiologists. This diverse workforce is crucial for effectively responding to, preventing, and controlling disease outbreaks, including zoonoses. Countries should ensure readiness to detect, respond to, and prevent zoonotic diseases by supporting comprehensive education and legislative frameworks that empower and equip these experts to collaborate across sectors.
- Risk communication: Risk communication within the One Health approach should encompass comprehensive strategies that engage all stakeholders effectively. This involves considering how each stakeholder can be involved in communication, ensuring information is shared through formal channels, programs, and targeted messaging. By facilitating the exchange of resources and maximizing public support, these strategies contribute to the overall effectiveness of One Health initiatives.
- Communication and information sharing: Effective communication and information sharing are critical components of the One Health approach. By collecting and integrating information from various sources, stakeholders gain a comprehensive understanding of existing disease burdens. Establishing data sharing platforms across relevant organizations and departments facilitates timely integration of data, enhancing collaborative efforts to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks effectively within the One Health framework.
- Community Engagement:Engaging communities in disease surveillance, awareness campaigns, and implementation of preventive measures to ensure grassroots involvement and ownership. The awareness campaign of communities on biosecurity practices and good animal husbandry practices can help in reducing the chances of outbreak of the diseases.
Conclusion: In conclusion, the One Health concept transcends theoretical boundaries to become a practical necessity in our interconnected world. It advocates for a collaborative, cross-sectoral, and transdisciplinary approach that integrates human, animal, and environmental health. With the rise in zoonotic, parasitic, and infectious diseases, it is imperative that governments, international organizations, health professionals, and communities worldwide adopt and implement the One Health approach. By doing so, we can effectively safeguard the health of our planet and its inhabitants, ensuring a sustainable and resilient future for all. The development of technologies like genomic sequencing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and remote sensing can improve disease surveillance, track environmental changes, and further our understanding of the complex interactions between human, animal, and environmental health.
