One Health challenges and actions: Integration of gender considerations to reduce risks at the human-animal-environmental interface

Abstract

The human-animal-environment interface is where the emergence of new infectious diseases can occur as a result of many complex reasons, including its alteration due to intensive farming and agriculture, increased human encroachment into wildlife habitats, international travel networks, and urbanization. The One Health approach to zoonoses is a holistic approach that considers environmental sustainability, animal health, and human health together. Gender-specific social and domestic roles can modulate (increase or decrease) an individual's risk of exposure to various hazards, including infectious diseases and zoonoses. The two scenarios presented here, one on avian influenza and the other on leptospirosis, clearly highlight the influence of gender, demonstrating that women's roles at the human-animal-environment interface are not the same as men's.Integrating the gender aspect into cross-sectoral interventions defined according to the One Health perspective could help reduce the risks of exposure to infections for humans and animals and the possible consequent economic losses. We suggest supplementing the One Health perspective with a gender analysis to study the influence of social norms, activities and risk behavior on exposure to infections, chemical pollution and the consequences of climate change.