In a recent study that was published in The Lancet, researchers looked for up-to-date proof of how One Health strategies could enhance global health security against previously unheard-of health risks like the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
To demonstrate the incremental advantages of One Health initiatives, they also looked at the infrastructure and surveillance-response systems of joint health services. They also stressed the urgent need to improve collaboration at the local, national, and international levels in order to grow and maximise the benefits of One Health and improve operationalization.
1. Background
The theoretical approaches and case studies of One Health were vetted and examined by the researchers. It enabled them to comprehend how effectively the joint health services informed the UN Food and Agricultural Organization about the One Health concept (FAO). The World Health Organization (WHO) International Health Regulations and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) Performance of Veterinary Services monitoring and evaluation frameworks (MEF) were also evaluated. Office International des Epizooties was the previous name for WOAH (OIE).
Because zoonoses have the potential to have a negative impact on people’s health, travel, and trade globally, all UN member states are required to develop core capacities for preventing, detecting, and responding to PHEs, including zoonoses control, under the 2007 revision of the International Health Regulations (IHR), a global framework.
Utilizing the IHR’s statutory authority, the Quadripartite grouping of international organisations is now working on developing and executing a worldwide One Health Joint Plan of Action for 2022 to 2026. The Performance of Veterinary Services (PVS), a monitoring and evaluation tool created by the WOAH, is also used to evaluate the veterinary services.
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Unfortunately, the inadequate operationalization of IHE MEF and PVS prevented them from mounting a sufficient response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In other words, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the operational shortcomings of the entire job of the global health security organisation. At the same time, it supported the development of competencies to deal with dangers at the point where domestic and wild animals and the environment meet. Most importantly, it once more highlighted the operational benefits of integrated strategies like One Health.
2. Concerning the study
In order to identify specific hazards that would most benefit from a One Health approach, researchers conducted a review of the existing literature while adhering to the classification of risks to the security of global health laid out in the WHO Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management framework. It is a four-series evaluation, the first of which looks at the evidence behind the One Health approach’s advantages. The second section focuses on a technique for worldwide mapping One Health Networks. It also looks at the traits of successful cross-sectoral cooperation and how it might grow.
The final section examines the monitoring and evaluation instruments used to assess PHE preparedness at the national level and offers suggestions for improving them by implementing the comprehensive One Health strategy. The researchers explore the main issues with One Health governance in the fourth section and offer appropriate solutions.
3. An overview of the One Health movement’s history
The phrase “One Medicine” was coined in the 1960s by veterinary epidemiologist Calvin Schwabe to highlight the interdependence of human and animal health. The Wildlife Conservation Society came up with the motto “One World, One Health” a long time later, in 2004. It underlined the relevance of safeguarding the health of people, animals, and the integrity of the entire ecosystem in accordance with the Manhattan Principles declaration, which was revised with the Berlin Principles in 2019.
The Berlin Principles of One Health address modern challenges including antibiotic resistance and climate change while highlighting their connections to sustainable development. The phrase “One Health” initially surfaced in medical literature in 2005 to highlight the benefits of greater collaboration between animal and human health, which could not be achieved through punitive measures alone.
In this setting, Zinsstag et al. emphasised the urgent need to alter small-scale livestock systems and live-animal marketplaces while hunting for vaccinations to prevent future human influenza pandemics by limiting interactions between livestock and wildlife.
4. Advantages of the One Health strategy
It makes sense to use the One Health strategy to identify potential health hazards as early as feasible and coordinate resources to address their long-term effects. The combination regular immunisation programmes for humans and animals provided to Chadian pastoralists on the move is a striking illustration of these advantages. Due to the same cold chain and transportation, it saved money. Another illustration is the widespread brucellosis immunisation of animals in Mongolia.
The Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (CIPARS), which saved infrastructure resources, was economical, and most crucially, decreased the time required to discover antimicrobial resistance, stands out as the most notable example. Salmonella isolates found in humans and hens were positively impacted by antimicrobial use regulation in 2013, according to this integrated surveillance system. According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) from 2012, 23% of all fatalities worldwide are attributable to factors that may be changed, such as poor sanitization, air and noise pollution, and disregard for traffic safety regulations.
It demonstrates how more environmental sector integration, such as the testing and expansion of biological control strategies against endemic infectious illnesses, could improve the security of world health. Schistosomiasis is a neglected endemic illness that may be controlled by introducing river prawns that consume cercariae (its host species). As seen in Vietnam, predatory copepods may also aid in the prevention of dengue illness.
5. Conclusions
The COVID-19 pandemic brought attention to the relationship between population density and pandemic spread as well as the necessity of managing air quality to prevent and treat comorbid conditions like respiratory sickness. Therefore, research should concentrate on ways to stop future pandemics rather than merely on lucrative vaccine and medicine development.
The zoonotic potential of Brucella melitensis is approximately 100 times greater than that of Mycobacterium bovis, which causes bovine tuberculosis. Therefore, preventing brucellosis in the reservoir of animals has a larger benefit-cost ratio of 3:1 than preventing bovine tuberculosis, or less than one. Based on evidence of its efficacy, the One Health approach is in fact more pertinent to tackling particular hazards and dangers.
