There are so many links between human health, animal health and even the health of our environment. The One Health Initiative was founded to recognize those links and promote interaction between the various disciplines of medicine and science.
Who Is Involved in the One Health Initiative?
The One Health Initiative encourages collaboration and interaction between all medical and scientific professionals, including (but not limited to):
- veterinarians
- physicians
- osteopaths
- nurses
- other scientists
Groups which support the One Health Initiative include:
- American Medical Association (AMA)
- American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)
- American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
- U.S. National Environmental Health Association (NEHA)
How Does the One Health Initiative Benefit People and Animals?
There are many links between human health and animal health.
- The human/animal bond is a strong one and interaction with pets can improve mental well-being for pet owners as well as other pet lovers. For instance, therapy animals frequently visit hospitals and other care facilities and have an impact on the mental health of the patients there. In addition, pets are known to provide positive benefits for children, for seniors and for individuals suffering from depression and other mental illnesses.
- Service animals can help their owners become more independent by aiding them in performing day to day tasks. Other service dogs aid in protecting the general public through search and rescue, bomb and drug detection and more.
- Zoonotic diseases are those that can pass from pets to people and from people to pets. These diseases can have a profound impact on both the animals and people involved. Examples include parasites such as roundworms and hookworms, toxoplasmosis (particularly in pregnant women), ringworm, leptospirosis and many other diseases.
- The health of our food supply is largely dependent on animal health. Bioterrorism is a very real threat in the world we live in today and our food supply is a potential target. In addition, diseases like "mad cow disease" are a concern because of their potential to infect our food animals and be transmitted to people.
- The effect that we have on our environment has far-ranging effects on various ecosystems scattered throughout the entire planet. Even small changes within a given ecosystem can have drastic effects on the animals living in that ecosystem. These types of changes can eventually come back to impact on us, as humans, also.
The One Health Initiative attempts to connect all these effects and the professional disciplines that study and try to control them. It brings together experts from the fields of veterinary medicine, human medicine, environmental science and other scientific endeavors and seeks to combine these areas into "one medicine and one health".
Join the Conversation