As global populations grow and cities encroach on rural farming areas, the health of people, animals, and the environment are increasingly interconnected. And yet health professionals—including physicians, veterinarians, and environmental scientists—often study and practice in isolation. We need to change that if we expect to improve health outcomes worldwide.
Enter “One Health,” a movement to inform people about the interconnectedness of health-related issues and transform the way that physicians, veterinarians, and environmental scientists work together to more effectively prevent, diagnose, and treat chronic and infectious diseases which are costing the health care system—and citizens of the world—billions of dollars annually.
Taking a One Health approach is more important than ever because people and Mother Nature increasingly are sharing the same ailments. For example, most emerging infectious diseases—including West Nile Virus and Avian Flu—are zoonotic in nature, meaning that they can be passed from one species (in this case, birds) to another (in this case, people). In addition, many chronic diseases—including obesity, cancer, and arthritis—are shared by people and animals. And, many issues affecting the health of our planet also are affecting the health of people and animals. The same carbon emissions which threaten air quality and plant health around the world also increase the risk of respiratory diseases in people. The same pathogens which harmlessly pass from cattle find their way into crop irrigation systems and eventually pose food safety threats to people. And the same proteins used by plant scientists to breed better crops can cause unexpected allergic reactions in kids.
The point is, we’re all in this health thing together.
Unfortunately, we’re not acting as if that’s the case. While human health, animal health, and ecosystem health are increasingly interconnected, the disciplines which study them are not. Physicians, veterinarians, and environmental scientists specialize early on and rarely collaborate in academic or professional settings. To be sure, we have made progress. Organizations such as the national One Health Commission and Florida’s One Health Initiative have been pioneers in evangelizing the One Health approach. The drumbeat has continued with the recent formation of the Center for One Health Illinois and One Health Kansas, a collaborative effort between Kansas State University and the Kansas Health Foundation. But we need more tangible examples of health professionals from various disciplines working side by side to accelerate the development of better diagnostic and therapeutic tools for addressing public health issues. Most importantly, One Health needs to become a default way of thinking and acting in classrooms, labs, and clinics worldwide.
All of which will result in more interdisciplinary programs and, ultimately, more students and professionals who “get it”; better information sharing across disciplines, leading to improved detection and diagnosis of natural or induced disease threats; and novel approaches to new therapies and treatments for unmet needs. There’s no reason, for instance, that veterinarian oncologists and human oncologists can’t team up to share data, given that certain cancers manifest themselves in similar ways in both dogs and people.
With the possible exception of Einstein’s brilliance, very few scientific advancements happen in isolation. By integrating and sharing our experiences across disciplines, we end up with better ideas
We can’t do it alone. That’s how we’ve ended up with better computers, better cars, and better foods. And it’s how we’ll achieve better health.
