ABOUT THE ONE HEALTH INITIATIVE
The One Health Initiative is a movement to forge co-equal, all inclusive collaborations between physicians, osteopathic physicians, veterinarians, dentists, nurses and other scientific-health and environmentally related disciplines, including the American Medical Association, American Veterinary Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Nurses Association, American Association of Public Health Physicians, the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the U.S. National Environmental Health Association (NEHA). Additionally, more than 981 prominent scientists, physicians and veterinarians worldwide have endorsed the initiative.
Recognizing that human health (including mental health via the human-animal bond phenomenon), animal health, and ecosystem health are inextricably linked, One Health seeks to promote, improve, and defend the health and well-being of all species by enhancing cooperation and collaboration between physicians, veterinarians, other scientific health and environmental professionals and by promoting strengths in leadership and management to achieve these goals.
Vision Statement:
One Health (formerly called One Medicine) is dedicated to improving the lives of all species—human and animal—through the integration of human medicine, veterinary medicine and environmental science.
One Health shall be achieved through:
- Joint educational efforts between human medical, veterinary medical schools, and schools of public health and the environment;
- Joint communication efforts in journals, at conferences, and via allied health networks;
- Joint efforts in clinical care through the assessment, treatment and prevention of cross-species disease transmission;
- Joint cross-species disease surveillance and control efforts in public health;
- Joint efforts in better understanding of cross-species disease transmission through comparative medicine and environmental research;
- Joint efforts in the development and evaluation of new diagnostic methods, medicines and vaccines for the prevention and control of diseases across species and;
- Joint efforts to inform and educate political leaders and the public sector through accurate media publications.
— from the One Health Initiative website