One Health in Action

Join Dr. Melinda Rostal and Catherine Machalaba for a discussion on One Health in Action

Time: 12pm-1pm (EST)

Twitter: @EcoHealthNYC

Check out a full list of One Health Day events throughout the Americas here

In recognition of the integral connections between human, animal and environmental health, and their role in recent zoonotic disease epidemics including Ebola virus in West Africa, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-Coronavirus), and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenzas, the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats PREDICT-2 and Preparedness and Response projects are pleased to release One Health in Action, which features a collection of One Health case studies.

“One Health” is an interdisciplinary approach to strengthen systems globally and locally by recognizing the shared health of humans, animals and the environment. The first international One Health Day, to be held on November 3rd, represents a global call to action to strengthen collaboration and understanding across sectors. The work under the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats program supports operationalizing of these goals to improve capacity to prevent, detect and respond to disease threats, advancing the objectives of the Global Heath Security Agenda.

The success stories highlighted in One Health in Action have been operationalized by local partners over the past six years in middle and low-income countries identified as ‘hotspots’ for disease emergence. Demonstrating the benefits of coordination between human, agriculture and environment sectors in pathogen surveillance, laboratory screening, and risk analysis, they can serve as a model for further One Health implementation to strengthen capacity of human and animal health system to promote global health security.

One Health in Action is available in English and French. We invite you to the share the booklet widely with colleagues across sectors, and encourage you to compile case studies from your own work to show additional applications and benefits of One Health approaches.

The PREDICT-2 Consortium, implemented by University of California-Davis, EcoHealth Alliance, Metabiota, Smithsonian Institution, Wildlife Conservation Society, and Columbia University Center for Infection and Immunity in partnership with hundreds of local organizations, assists 30 focus countries in monitoring and analyzing viruses with pandemic potential as well as behaviors, practices, and conditions associated with viral evolution, spillover, amplification and spread. The Preparedness and Response (P&R) project supports country partners in developing effective One Health platforms to prevent, detect and respond to emerging infectious disease threats. Implementing partners for P&R are Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), Training Resources Group (TRG), the Futures Group, and The African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET). The projects collaborate closely on One Health initiatives with partner institutions including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, and the World Bank.