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Need for Enhanced Environmental Representation in the Implementation of One Health

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Abstract

Issues of global environmental change, global health, emerging disease, and sustainability present some of the most complex challenges of the twenty-first century. Individual disciplines cannot address these issues in isolation. Proactive, innovative, and trans-disciplinary solutions are required. Recognizing the inherent connectedness of humans, animals, plants, and their shared environment, One Health encourages the collaboration of many disciplines—including human and veterinary medicine, public health, social science, public policy, environmental science, and others—to address global and local health challenges. Despite great progress in this shift toward transdisciplinarity, the environmental component of the One Health paradigm remains underrepresented in One Health discourse. Human and animal health issues are commonly discussed under the umbrella of the One Health paradigm, while upstream environmental drivers and solutions are less prominent. We assessed the current integration of environmental issues in One Health publications and leadership. There is room for enhanced integration of environmental knowledge in the implementation of One Health approaches. We discuss the potential benefits from the collaboration between One Health and ecohealth, and explore strategies for increased environmental involvement.

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Acknowledgments

During development of this article, MAB was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at the University of California (UC) San Francisco and UC Berkeley. She thanks the program for its financial support and the faculty and scholars for their intellectual support. MAB also thanks Steve Osofsky for feedback, mentorship, and intellectual contributions, and the North Carolina One Health Collaborative, One Health Initiative, and UC Global Health Institute’s One Health Center of Expertise for their ongoing engagement in One Health activities. TAB works as an environmental specialist with the World Bank Group. The opinions expressed here do not reflect an official perspective of the institution. MAB and TAB declare no competing financial interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholars Program, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Meredith A. Barrett

  2. University of California Berkeley, School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Meredith A. Barrett

  3. Environment and Natural Resources, World Bank Group, 1818 H St. NW, Washington, DC, 20433, USA

    Timothy A. Bouley

  4. Propeller Health, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Meredith A. Barrett

Authors
  1. Meredith A. Barrett
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  2. Timothy A. Bouley
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Correspondence to Meredith A. Barrett.

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Barrett, M.A., Bouley, T.A. Need for Enhanced Environmental Representation in the Implementation of One Health. EcoHealth 12, 212–219 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-014-0964-5

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