Three leading international One Health groups, the One Health Commission, the One Health
Initiative Autonomous pro bono Team, and the One Health Platform Foundation are partnering to create a global “One Health Day”.

On November 3, individuals and groups from around the world, from academic to corporate & non-profit, students to established professionals, will have the opportunity to implement One Health projects and special events under the auspices of “One Health Day.” Projects will highlight the benefits of a One Health transdisciplinary approach towards solving today’s critical global-planetary health challenges. “It is anticipated that emerging projects will focus on many of the arenas under the One Health umbrella including worldwide public health issues such as emerging/reemerging zoonotic infectious diseases, comparative medicine research including cancer, heart disease, orthopedic diseases and the inextricable interactions between animal, environmental and human health”, said Dr. Cheryl Stroud, Executive Director of the One Health Commission, veterinary scientist and One Health leader.

One Health is a movement to forge co-equal, all-inclusive collaborations, in both research and applied sciences, between human and veterinary medical healthcare providers, social scientists, dentists, nurses, agriculturalists and food producers, wildlife and environmental health specialists and many other related disciplines. As early as 2010 the World Bank recognized and published documentary evidence supporting benefits of a One Health approach in disease prevention, public health and global security.

“Many prominent scientists, physicians, veterinarians and other significant health professionals are endorsing the One Health concept”, said Dr. Laura Kahn, Co-Founder of the One Health Initiative Autonomous pro bono Team, physician and internationally published One Health author/leader. “The One Health approach is being increasingly accepted by numerous major international health oriented organizations such as the World Health Organization, the World Medical Association, the World Veterinary Association, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, the World Organization for Animal Health, and many others. An outstanding group of One Health textbooks and international professional One Health journals have emerged”, says Kahn.

The One Health concept is a worldwide strategy for planetary health. It will support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the United States led Global Health Security Agenda. Transdisciplinary synergisms achieved will advance health for the 21st century and beyond by accelerating biomedical research on topics that fall at the interface of many disciplines, improving medical education, and clinical care. When properly implemented, One Health will help sustain biodiversity, protect the planet and save untold millions of lives in our present and future generations.

“Recent global disease events, like the outbreaks of Ebola, MERS and Zika, have underpinned the increasing impacts of zoonotic diseases on human and animal health. It has also become clear that changes in the environment, like population growth and climate change, are drivers for the emergence of such zoonoses“, said Prof. Dr. Ab Osterhaus, Chair of the One Health Platform Foundation Board, veterinarian, and leading Dutch virologist and influenza expert.

Regional One Health Day Spokespersons from around the world are being engaged to liaise with project teams in their respective locales. Anyone, individuals or groups, from academic to corporate to non-profit, students to established professionals can plan and implement a One Health Day event. Student groups from all disciplines are encouraged to participate and will have the option to compete for cash prizes and global recognition. This global partnership will provide a platform for One Health supporters around the world to help make One Health thinking the ‘default’ way of doing business. Working together across human, animal and environmental health professions, those who believe strongly that One Health is our ‘Ray of Hope’ for the future can accomplish significant change.

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Additional information is available online at www.onehealthday.org