What does the “One Health” approach mean?
Living organisms and ecosystems are interconnected and the health of one depends on that of the other. “One Health” or “one health” in French, takes into account these complex links in a global approach to health issues. This includes animal, plant and human health and environmental disturbances generated by human activity.
What issues does this approach address?
At least 60% of infectious human diseases have an animal origin. Many epidemics that have appeared in recent years, such as those caused by the covid-19 Zika or Ebola viruses, have in common that they come from animals.
Human activity plays a major role in the spread of these infectious diseases animal or human. The increase in the world population and that of domestic animals, the intensification of transport have thus facilitated the spread of pathogens. At the same time, environmental degradation, deforestation and the development of cities worldwide have encouraged contact between wild animals, farm animals and humans, which has helped the transmission of diseases. .
Finally, ongoing climate change is one of the indicators of lasting environmental degradation and promotes, for example, the adaptation of animal vectors of pathogenic agents to new geographical areas. Thus, vector-borne diseases have a growing economic or public health impact. They are at the origin of the emergence of new pathogenic agents in Europe, such as the bluetongue virus, the Schmallenberg virus, which affects ruminants or the 30-fold increase in human cases of dengue fever in different regions of the world.
The challenge of the One Health approach is to promote collaboration between public, animal, plant and environmental health actors. It also makes it possible to combine the human and social sciences, in particular economics, in order to address issues in an interdisciplinary way taking into account human activities.
How old is the One Health approach?
Although the principle has been around for longer, the One Health concept is featured since the early 2000s. It developed with the awareness of the close links between human health, that of animals and the global ecological state and the need to decompartmentalize health approaches.
In particular, it was the subject of a tripartite agreement signed in 2010 between the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organization for Animal Health (OMSA) and the United Nations Organization for Agriculture and food (FAO).
What are ANSES’s actions in favor of One Health?
ANSES’s missions cover animal, plant and human health, through environmental and food health safety. His work is therefore fundamentally part of the One Health approach.
Four examples of ANSES’s flagship themes on One Health:
- Vectors : certain insects and mites transmit pathogenic agents to humans, animals or plants. The Agency is particularly interested in emerging harmful organisms and the influence of climate change on vectors.
- Zoonoses : many pathogens on which ANSES is working are transmissible from animals to humans and vice versa. This is the case, for example, with avian and porcine influenza viruses, bovine tuberculosis, brucellosis, numerous parasites, coronaviruses, etc.
- Antibiotic resistance : the Agency monitors and studies bacteria resistant to antibiotics in animals and in food. It also monitors the use of veterinary antibiotics. These actions contribute to the global fight once morest antibiotic resistance.
- bee health : many factors affect the health of bees, such as pathogens, predators, biodiversity, environmental changes, nutritional conditions or exposure to plant protection products.
- plant health : Plant parasites, crop competitors or invasive plants do not only jeopardize the health of infected plants, crop yields and biodiversity in natural environments. They can also be harmful to human health, by causing respiratory pathologies, allergies or by having stinging or toxic properties.
Work projects dedicated to One Health
The agency participates in two main programs on One Health, in which many research works of its teams are included:
- l’EJP One Health (2018-2023) : coordinated by ANSES, this joint European program brings together 44 partners from 19 European countries. Its objective is to acquire new knowledge in the fields of foodborne zoonoses, antibiotic resistance and emerging infectious risks. It has made it possible to finance 31 scientific projects,
- the DIM One Health (2017 – 2021) and the DIM One Health 2.0 (2021-2030): the DIM (Domain of Major Interest) is funded by the Ile-de-France region. It was initiated by ANSES and brings together numerous animal and human health research teams from the region. The agency is still strongly committed to this system.
