One health approach prevents future pandemics: A review article

Abstract

The impact that one health (OH) concept can have on the worldwide response to the COVID-19 pandemic is significant. We highlight four areas where the use of OH has the potential to greatly improve infectious disease governance in general, and COVID-19 governance in particular. For starters, a better-integrated surveillance infrastructure and monitoring of the occurrence of infectious diseases in humans and animals can make it easier to discover emerging infectious agents with comparable genotypes across species and track their spatiotemporal spread. This information can help public and animal health officials plan effective responses. Second, using the OH approach can help stakeholders representing seemingly conflicting domains coordinate and collaborate more effectively. Third, the OH approach emphasizes the importance of a strong institutional environment that allows for sufficient regulation of hotspots for infectious disease transmission between people and animals, such as live animal marketplaces. Finally, OH thinking emphasizes the need for equitable solutions to infectious disease challenges, implying that policy response mechanisms and interventions should take into account illness burdens faced disproportionately by vulnerable and marginalized people, as well as those helping sick people with health treatment and other important services. Within the “One World – One Health” strategy, four major components can be identified as crucial elements: the geographical component, the ecological component, human activities, and food agriculture activities. We go over what we know about infections that emerge, the hosts they come from, and the circumstances that cause them to develop. We explore the obstacles to their control as well as innovative tactics for predicting pandemics, focusing surveillance on the most critical interfaces, and developing prevention strategies.