Applauds One Health-definition in Nature

The new definition of One Health from the UN Environmental Program and the Tripartite collaboration of agencies is applauded in the latest issue of the journal Nature by Carlos das Neves from the Norwegian Veterinary Institute and Andrew Peters from Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, Australia. The two writers use the opportunity in their letter to Nature to warn against the use of the concept of One Health in contexts where the work being done does not cover the entire scope of the concept, but is only partially within.

"Under the new definition, it is no longer acceptable to practise ‘one half’ of One Health — that is, to omit environmental considerations when balancing and optimizing human, animal and plant health", the two researchers claim in their letter to Nature in Vol 600 23/30 December 2021.

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Carlos das Neves. Foto: Eivind Røhne

das Neves and Peters writes here that maintaining biodiversity and the ecosystem is central to avoid, among other things, zoonotic diseases, and they draw a line to COVID-19. They are also reminiscent of greenhouse effects from, among other things, livestock farming and the over-consumption of fresh water in agriculture.

Peters and da Neves underline that we all must work together interdisciplinary and at different levels of society and across sectors:

“The new approach is best achieved by mobilizing multiple sectors, disciplines and communities at varying levels of society to work together”.

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