One World — One Health

Abstract

The «One Health» concept is gathering momentum and over the next years, International Journal Antibiotics and Probiotics will be publishing a series of articles to help encourage that process. Written by specialists in a range of fields, the articles will consider the meaning of One Health, the interactions between animal and human health and how a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach could help to solve emerging global problems. Governments and scientists worldwide recognised that greater interdisciplinary collaboration was required to prevent and control zoonoses and antimicrobial resistance, and that such collaboration should include not only physicians and veterinarians, but also wildlife specialists, including environmentalists, among others. The expression One Health was proposed as a concept to foster such interdisciplinary collaboration. It has been adopted with great enthusiasm by the veterinary profession and by the international agencies charged with control of zoonoses, most notably the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). Worldwide, the veterinary profession has promoted the concept of One Health to address such issues as food. It is clear that no one discipline or sector of society has enough knowledge and resources to prevent the emergence or resurgence of diseases in today’s globalised world.