One health, one world, one medicine

Recently, I attended the United States Animal Health Association's 114th Annual Meeting and American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians' (AAVLD) 53rd Annual Conference and USAHA/AAVLA Plenary session-One Health: One-Way Street or Are There Opportunities for Animal Agriculture at Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA from November 11 to 17, 2010. I would like to share with you the theme and the concept of One Health. The One Health concept is a worldwide strategy for expanding interdisciplinary collaborations and communications in all aspects of health care for humans, animals and the environment. The synergism achieved will advance health care for the 21st century and beyond by accelerating biomedical research discoveries, enhancing public health efficacy, expeditiously expanding the scientific knowledge base, and improving medical education and clinical care. When properly implemented, it will help protect and save untold millions of lives in our present and future generations. In many of its current form, the concept of "One Health" is long on visionary scope and maddeningly short on tangible specifics and short term action steps for implementation. Yet, there is a substantial, although often anecdotal, amount of evidence suggesting that the clinical laboratories could play a key and increasingly important role in diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases overlapping human and animal medicine in a manner that could be considered One Health. Every health professional intuitively recognises the basic wisdom of a One Health approach to medicine. The interconnectedness of the natural world, the web of life, is a concept repeated over and over from the first biology lecture onward. Unfortunately, there has been a divergence between human medicine and veterinary medicine over the years in the more advanced countries as, due to many significant advances in controlling infectious diseases, Public Health became more focused on chronic, non-infectious disease control and prevention (heart disease, cancer, diabetes.). Though there were also significant advances in infectious disease control in veterinary medicine, infectious disease control still retains a far greater emphasis in Animal Health. The "One Health" concept of addressing global health challenges is highly dependent on an effective multi-disciplinary approach to solving complex problems. Veterinarian, ecologists, medical doctor, wildlife biologists and researchers are but few of the many who must come together in a holistic approach to ensure animal, human, and environment health. Zoonotic diseases; animal agriculture (both as a source of protein and as a source of power); social determinants of infectious diseases; bioterrorism; globalisation of goods and people; climate change-the list of reasons for developing a One Health mindset is endless. The One Health Commission (established in 2009) is focused on establishing "closer professional collaborations and educational opportunities across the health science professions and their related disciplines." Recognising that human health (including mental health via the human-animal bond phenomenon), animal health, and ecosystem health are inextricably linked, One Health seeks to promote, improve, and defend the health and well-being of all species by enhancing cooperation and collaboration between physicians, veterinarians, other scientific health and environmental professionals and by promoting strengths in leadership and management to achieve these goals. One Health (formerly called One Medicine) is dedicated to improving the lives of all species -- human and animal -- through the integration of human medicine, veterinary medicine and environmental science. One Health shall be achieved through: l Joint educational efforts between human medical, veterinary medical schools, and schools of public health and the environment. l Joint communication efforts in journals, at conferences, and via allied health networks. l Joint efforts in clinical care through the assessment, treatment and prevention of cross-species disease transmission. l Joint cross-species disease surveillance and control efforts in public health. l Joint efforts in better understanding of cross-species disease transmission through comparative medicine and environmental research. l Joint efforts in the development and evaluation of new diagnostic methods, medicines and vaccines for the prevention and control of diseases across species. l Joint efforts to inform and educate political leaders and the public sector through accurate media publications. The writer, a PhD and Head of the Department of Medicine, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, can be reached at e-mail prithul02@yahoo.co.uk