ONE WORLD, ONE HEALTH: PREVENT ZOONOSES, STOP THE SPREAD
Dr. Binal Prajapati
Junior Research Fellow,
GCRF- One Health Poultry Hub,
Department of Veterinary Biotechnology,
Kamdhenu University,
Anand, Gujarat
Email- prajapati.binalr@gmail.com
Introduction
Zoonoses, constituting over 75% of emerging disease pathogens, are infectious diseases that can naturally transmit between animals and humans, with 60% originating from domestic or wild animals to humans and 80% representing bioterrorism concerns. Over the past two decades, the global community has confronted numerous zoonotic disease outbreaks, encompassing viral infections such as Ebola virus disease, hantavirus disease, highly pathogenic avian influenza, West Nile disease, Rift Valley fever, severe acute respiratory syndrome, Marburg disease, rabies, Middle East respiratory syndrome, and monkeypox disease, alongside the bacterial diseases including anthrax, brucellosis, tuberculosis, salmonellosis, Escherichia coli (O157) infections, and Yersinia pestis infections.
The interaction among humans, animals, and pathogens within a shared environment should be viewed as a single dynamic system, where the health of each component is intricately linked and mutually dependent. As the world is interrelated with one another, including livestock and human population growth, urbanization, changing farming practices, wildlife interactions, antimicrobial resistance, climate change impacts like floods and droughts, habitat destruction, and foodborne pathogens, resulting in increased likelihood of emergence and re-emergence of zoonotic diseases and transmission worldwide, which can have an impact on human health. Inter-sectoral integration and collaboration are crucial for reducing the burden of zoonotic diseases caused by interactions between animals, humans, and the environment. Thus, the One health approach and its organizational structures can help achieve this goal.
The One Health approach is defined as a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach working at local, national, and global level aimed at ensuring optimal health for humans, animals, and the environment. Infectious disease control is critical to the One Health concept, as it has historically impacted human society. Adopting a One Health approach has been proposed as a more effective way to solve these challenges by encouraging integrated collaboration between veterinary and human medicine. This multidisciplinary and collaborative approach is essential for protecting the health of domestic and wild animals, humans, and and for safeguarding environmental protection.
For example, preventing diseases like rabies necessitates a multidisciplinary approach involving medical doctors, nurses, veterinarians, engineers, and other professionals across various departments. Medical doctors and nurses contribute to clinical diagnosis and treatment protocols, while veterinarians work on animal health surveillance and vaccination programs. Engineers play a role in designing and implementing infrastructure for waste management and sanitation, fundamental for controlling disease spread. Moreover, epidemiologists evaluate disease patterns and transmission dynamics, environmental scientists who investigate the impact of habitat changes on disease spread, and policymakers adopt legislation for animal control and vaccination campaigns. Community outreach workers play a vital role in educating the public about rabies prevention measures and ensuring compliance with vaccination programs. Interdisciplinary collaboration in surveillance, vaccination, public health education, and infrastructure development plays an important role for effective zoonoses prevention and control, protecting both human and animal populations.
Historical Development of the One Health Approach
The evolution of the One Health approach began in the 19th century with Rudolf Virchow, a pioneering pathologist who recognized the interconnectedness between human and veterinary medicine. In the early 20th century, Calvin Schwabe further developed this concept, coining “One Medicine” to emphasize the similarities between animal and human health. Key milestones include the establishment of the One Health Commission in 2009 and the collaborative initiatives by the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). These organizations have promoted integrated approaches to health strategies, promoting global cooperation to address the intricate interactions between humans, animals, and the environment. Today, One Health serves as a important framework for addressing emerging infectious diseases, emphasizing multidisciplinary collaboration to achieve optimal health outcomes across all species and ecosystems.
Key Elements of One World – One Health
The ‘One World – One Health’ (OWOH) approach includes four critical components for understanding and managing global health concerns:
- Geographical component:This component of OWOH examines disease distribution and dynamics across areas and ecosystems, focusing on how climate, terrain, and proximity to settlements affect transmission. This information helps to map hotspots, identify high-risk zoonotic spillover areas, and conduct targeted interventions.
- Ecological component:This component investigates the relationships between animals and their surroundings, with a focus on natural habitats, biodiversity, and ecosystem health. Human activities such as deforestation, urbanization, and agricultural expansion can disturb these interactions allowing zoonotic diseases to originate. The emphasis on ecosystem management, conservation, and sustainable practices is imperative for lowering disease risks.
- Human activities:Human activities such as travel, trade, urbanization, and population growth, promote pathogen spread and enhance human-wildlife conflict. Agricultural practices, such as livestock farming, exacerbate zoonotic disease transmission. Mitigation requires responsible land use, improved agricultural biosecurity, and regulated wildlife trade.
- Food-agricultural component:It addresses the interaction between food production, animal health, and public health, including food safety, livestock welfare, and foodborne illness prevention. To reduce environmental impact, effective management includes strict food safety regulations, agricultural practice monitoring, and the advancement of sustainable agriculture.
Mitigation Strategies in the One Health approach
The One Health framework’s mitigation techniques attempt to tackle and reduce the risks of zoonotic diseases and other health concerns at the interface of humans, animals, and the environment, which is important to manage emerging infectious diseases and global population health.
- Integrated surveillance systems:These systems require collaboration between human health, veterinary, and environmental sectors to monitor disease dynamics across animal, human, and environmental field. By detecting and responding to signals of disease emergence promptly, integrated surveillance enhances preparedness and enables timely intervention.
- Promoting vaccination and disease control programs:Promoting vaccination programs in both animal and human populations helps to reduce disease transmission and mitigate outbreaks. Furthermore, disease control measures, such as quarantine protocols and treatment strategies, are essential for restricting and managing disease spread during outbreaks.
- Enhancing public health education and awareness: Education and awareness campaigns play a critical role in enhancing understanding of zoonotic disease risks, promoting preventive behaviors like proper hygiene and safe animal handling, and ultimately reducing disease transmission while improving public health outcomes. Utilizing celebrity endorsements in zoonotic disease prevention leverages their extensive reach across television, social media, and print media to effectively disseminate health messages to diverse demographics, enhancing education and awareness for disease prevention.
- Strengthening one health policy and governance: Effective One Health policy and governance frameworks are crucial for integrating multisectoral efforts into national and international health agendas, developing and enforcing regulations that promote sustainable agriculture, wildlife conservation, and ecosystem health, and ensuring collaboration, resource allocation, and capacity-building across sectors.
- Research and innovation in one health:Research focuses on comprehending disease ecology, pathogen evolution, and transmission dynamics across species boundaries, while innovation in diagnostics, surveillance methods, and vaccine development strengthens preparedness and response.
- Building resilient health systems:This involves strengthening healthcare infrastructure, laboratory capacity, and emergency response mechanisms.
Challenges in Implementing the One Health Approach
Implementing One Health confronts a number of problems, including organizational complications caused by the requirement for collaboration across diverse disciplines and sectors, which can impede effective communication and decision-making. Financial constraints and resource allocation issues pose barriers to sustained funding for integrated health programs and research initiatives. Regulatory frameworks frequently lack coordination among the human health, animal health, and environmental sectors, hindering policy implementation and enforcement. In addition, differing priorities and incentives among stakeholders can hinder coordinated efforts needed for comprehensive disease surveillance, prevention, and control strategies. Strong governance structures, interdisciplinary training programs, and more international cooperation are needed to address these difficulties to promote holistic approaches to health management at the human-animal-environment interface.
Conclusion
Scientific and policy-focused presentations on emerging infectious disease surveillance, combined with regular multi-sectoral roundtable discussions, are essential for fostering global, regional, and national cooperation in epidemiology, prevention, and control of zoonoses, emphasizing equitable public-private coordination, effective preparedness, and integration of One Health into basic science research for comprehensive public health advancement.
