A One Health Framework
What is One Health?
All life forms are connected. Understanding the interactions among them is critical to protecting the health of us all. One Health is an approach, and a framework for developing solutions, that aims to improve the quality of life for all conscious creatures through a deeper understanding of our entwined existences.
Why One Health?
According to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), one of the central challenges to animal welfare across the globe is the increasing impact of human related activities and intrusions. In Africa, these intrusions consist primarily of residential and commercial development, oil and gas drilling, poaching, bushmeat trade and consumption, recreational activities, pollution, and severe weather brought upon by climate change.
Multi-dimensional problems such as these require multi-dimensional solutions, which can often be difficult to develop and implement due to conflicting interests. At ANAW-USA, we do the hard work of thinking holistically and strategically about how we can best promote animal welfare while also promoting sustainable livelihoods and conservation. Too often human, animal, and environmental needs are placed at odds with each other. We believe that it is time to begin recognizing the long-term harms of this adversarial dynamic and to instead work to develop policies, interventions, values, and priorities that advance the interests and well being of all living things, while respecting the beauty of our diversity.
"Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test, consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect, mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it."
— Milan Kundera
One Health Facts
Emerging Pathogens & Zoonotic Diseases
We know from recent pandemics and epidemics that pathogens can spread between people and animals at an alarming rate. Infectious diseases that pose a serious threat to our physical, social, and economic health can be found everywhere across the globe, with the risk of spread exacerbated by the interconnectedness of our world. A One Health lens shows us the importance of working to create humane and hygienic environments for wild, domestic, and farm animals - not only because it’s humane and moral, but also in order to avoid the spread of zoonotic diseases from animals to humans.
Shared Vulnerability & Prosperity
One of the central tenets underpinning 21st century development paradigms is the recognition that human activity is doing significant harm to the planet, and in turn to the well being and viability of the many life forms it supports. But only recently has the realization that human societies will be equally harmed and disrupted by climate change and ecological collapse begun to sink in and substantively shape policy. Consequently, One Health has become a pillar of Global Health policy, and a model used by leading scientific research institutions to think holistically about health, sustainability, and global systems change.
Collaborative Solutions
According to the CDC and the WHO, successful public health interventions require the cooperation of human, animal, and environmental health partners. Professionals in human health (doctors, nurses, public health practitioners, epidemiologists), animal health (veterinarians, paraprofessionals, agricultural workers), environment (ecologists, wildlife experts), academia (social scientists, biologists, engineers, etc) and other areas of expertise need to communicate, collaborate on, and coordinate their activities in pursuit of solutions that promote the health of humans, animals, and the planet simultaneously.