One World, One Health

Health of the humans relies on well-functioning ecosystems, which provide clean air, fresh water, medicines, and food security, as well as limit disease and stabilize the climate. The new concept, “One World, One Health,” is based on the understanding that humans, animals and the environment are tightly linked and that their respective well-beings are interdependent has been recognized for centuries.

However, the sophistication of these interactions has only begun to be revealed. Drivers such as changes in climate and land-use, unsustainable agricultural practices, globalisation, and the wildlife trade, provide multiple opportunities for pathogens to evolve into new forms, making spillover events from animals to humans more frequent and intense. And the risk is not only for humans. While most risk assessments focus on the transmission of pathogens from animals to humans, diseases can also pass from humans to animals, and generate great impacts on the health of animals, whether domestic or wild. COVID-19, tuberculosis, influenza, among others, can infect or be fatal to different species of animals.

Source: https://www.woah.org/en/what-we-do/global-initiatives/one-health/