The One Health Approach can be defined as “the collaborative efforts of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals, plants and our environment,” which will “help protect and/or save untold millions of lives in our generation and for those to come.”
The One Health Initiative Autonomous pro bono team has documented the long history of the “One Health-One Medicine” perspective in the World Medical Journal 2023.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the World Health Organization (WHO), and many other international organizations recognize and have adopted the principles of One Health. However, the new U.S. administration has yet to endorse this most practicable strategy to significantly help “Make America Healthy Again.”
Indeed, the White House has issued an Executive Order withdrawing the United States from the world health organization, yet to be rescinded. This was cogently discussed previously in an article on the “Case for and Against America’s Role in the WHO.”
This dialogue is not advocating or talking partisan politics, i.e., Democrat, Republican, or Independent. It is talking about a strictly nonpartisan method of supporting a proven, expeditious, more financially effectual and efficacious means toward achieving health care for all people on planet Earth.
Over the years multiple valid educational articles articulating this concept and its many global public and clinical health attributes have been expressed worldwide in numerous professional scientific and lay publications, including Impakter; these have included primarily experts in the field. The September 2022 Impakter article, “Learning From the Past: Why One Health is Needed” (a new historical overview of how the One Health concept developed over 150 years brings home the fact that the time has come to adopt it worldwide), presented a long overlooked overview widely known about for centuries.
Related Articles: One Health Agenda Launched in the US: What Now? | The Concept of One Health Turns Global in 2021: How it Was Born | How Climate Change Affects Health and How Countries Can Respond | One Health: A Paradigm Whose Time Has Come? | Dealing With Future Pandemics: Do You Feel Safer Coping With Another Pandemic Today?
Nonetheless, it has fallen on deaf ears in a significant segment of the population. According to a 2024 study by the highly regarded Pew Research Center, a significant portion of Americans simply do not trust scientists or indeed “science” per se.
Frankly, this problem of health [and science] illiteracy has been previously addressed in an article published in November 2020, “Health Illiteracy – Why a Silent Epidemic Needs a “One Health” Approach.” Primary life-threatening examples today are namely the anti-vaccination movement and the refusal to recognize conclusive scientific data refuting vaccinations being the cause of autism.
An Executive Summary of a Country visit to Sweden to discuss antimicrobial resistance issues based on a One Health approach serves to elucidate what’s at stake in addressing antimicrobial resistance of antibiotics, a critical issue. It is applicable to many other zoonotic disease concerns vital to healthcare today and for posterity.
Truth is, the U.S. should salvage and stay associated with WHO in collaboration with CDC, USDA and others. Truth is, vaccinations are efficacious and safe for saving lives. Truth is, vaccinations do not cause Autism. Truth is, “Science is always evolving because new evidence and technologies change our understanding of the world” and should be embraced, not feared.
A conundrum? Let us hope not. Moreover, we are talking about a solvable political issue by all impartial, open-minded, attuned U.S. political leaders.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of Impakter.com — Cover Photo Credit: Aaron Burden / Wikimedia Commons.
