“One Health” is the concept that human health, animal health, and the health of the environment surrounding us are closely interconnected. The “One Health approach” refers to efforts to view these areas as an integrated whole and aim to solve shared challenges through collaboration among various fields, including human medicine, veterinary medicine, and environmental science.
Our health is not just a matter of human health. Changes in animals and the natural environment also have various impacts on our lives and health.
For example, there are infectious diseases that spread between humans and animals, such as avian influenza and COVID-19. To respond to these infectious diseases, it is important to investigate not only human health but also the health conditions of livestock and wildlife, as well as the natural environment behind the spread of infection.
The issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is also closely related to One Health. When antimicrobials used in humans and animals are not used appropriately, this can lead to an increase in bacteria that are less susceptible to these medicines. Such bacteria may spread not only among humans and animals but also into the environment through wastewater, soil, and other pathways. Therefore, it is necessary for fields such as healthcare, livestock production, and the environment to work together to promote countermeasures.
Furthermore, issues such as deforestation, climate change, and biodiversity loss are also important challenges that affect human and animal health. When forests are lost, wildlife habitats decrease, and opportunities for contact between humans and wild animals may increase. In addition, changes in temperature and rainfall can expand the habitats of mosquitoes, ticks, and other organisms, potentially changing the areas where the infectious diseases they transmit occur.
In this way, our health cannot be considered separately from animal health or the condition of the natural environment. Precisely because these challenges are difficult to solve through the efforts of a single field alone, it is important for people in various positions, including healthcare professionals, veterinarians, researchers, government authorities, and local communities, to share knowledge and information and work together.
One Health is not something that only specialists work on; it is a concept that concerns our daily lives and society as a whole.
Towards a society where people, animals, and the natural environment are all kept healthy. Taking November 3, “One Health Day,” as an opportunity, why not take another moment to think about the connections between our health, animals, and nature?
