One Health

History[edit]

Calvin Schwabe, a veterinarian trained in public health, coined the term "One Medicine" in a veterinary medical textbook in 1964 to reflect the similarities between animal and human medicine and stress the importance of collaboration between veterinarians and physicians to help solve global health problems.^[10] He established a department at the University of California, Davis, to jointly address issues in the animal and human health sciences.^[3]


In 2004, The Wildlife Conservation Society held a conference called "One World, One Health" at Rockefeller University in New York. Out of that conference the twelve Manhattan Principles were created to describe a unified approach to preventing epidemic diseases.^[3][11][12] These principles emphasized links between humans, animals, and the environment, their importance in understanding disease dynamics, and the need for interdisciplinary approaches to prevention, education, investment, and policy development.^[12]


Due to global scares surrounding the H5N1 influenza outbreaks of the early-mid 2000s, the American Veterinary Medical Association established a One Health Initiative Task Force in 2006, the American Medical Association passed a One Health resolution to promote partnering between veterinary and human medical organizations in 2007, and a One Health approach was recommended for responses to global disease outbreaks in 2007.^[11][10] Building on these initiatives, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), and World Health Organization (WHO) came together with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations System Influenza Coordination, and the World Bank to develop a framework entitled Contributing to One World, One Health-A Strategic Framework for Reducing Risks of Infectious Diseases at the Animal-Human-Ecosystems Interface in 2008, reiterating recommendations for a One Health approach to global health.^[11][10] This framework was expanded and implementable policies were developed at Stone Mountain, Georgia in May 2010.^[3][11][10] International meetings on One Health were held in 2011 in Africa and Australia.^[11][10]


In 2012, Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, a physician, and Kathryn Bowers, a science journalist, published the book Zoobiquity, coining the term as they drew parallels between animal and human health through vivid case studies. They called for the biomedical scientific and clinical communities to rediscover comparative medicine and reexamine human and animal health in terms of evolution and the environment. A New York Times bestseller,^[13] the book has been described as "easy to read and entertaining" in its presentation of ideas similar to the "One Health" concept, but also criticized as lacking depth and failing to recognize the extent to which animals and humans have differently evolved as complex systems.^[14]


In 2016, The One Health Commission, One Health Platform, and One Health Initiative Team deemed International One Health Day to be November 3.^[15]


In 2019, Senator Tina Smith and Representative Kurt Schrader introduced the Advancing Emergency Preparedness Through One Health Act into the United States Senate and House of Representatives, respectively.^[16][17] This bi-partisan piece of legislation would require that the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Agriculture, and other federal agencies develop a coordinated plan to create a One Health Framework to help prepare responses to zoonotic disease and prevent disease outbreaks.^[18] The bill was re-introduced by Tina Smith and Todd Young on March 18, 2021.^[19][20][3]