Reinforcing the One Health Approach for Global Well-being

Introduction

Over 70% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic in origin, and climate change is accelerating spillover risks globally. The COVID-19 pandemic made the cost of siloed health governance visible to the world — and irreversible in its lesson.

"A One Health approach makes public health sense, economic sense and common sense." — Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, 2023

What is One Health?

"One Health is an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimise the health of people, animals and ecosystems." — One Health Commission

The concept recognises that human health cannot be secured in isolation from animal health and environmental integrity. It calls for multi-sectoral, interdisciplinary collaboration across governments, scientific communities, and local actors.

Term origin: First officially used in 2003–04 during the SARS outbreak; gained traction with avian influenza H5N1 spread. The Manhattan Principles (2004), derived at a Wildlife Conservation Society meeting, formally recognised the human-animal-environment health nexus.

Key Drivers of Zoonotic Disease Emergence

As Mackenzie and Jeggo (2019) noted, the principal drivers of novel zoonotic diseases are:

• Changes in ecosystems and land use (deforestation, wetland destruction)
• Intensification of agriculture and factory farming
• Urbanisation and encroachment into wildlife habitats
• International travel and trade in wild animals
• Climate change altering vector habitats and disease transmission windows

Global Institutional Framework

India's Response

National One Health Mission: India's flagship collaborative initiative integrating human, animal, and environmental health sectors. Key objectives:

• Enhance pandemic preparedness and disease surveillance
• Strengthen zoonotic disease control
• Foster inter-ministerial coordination (Health, Agriculture, Environment ministries)

COVID-19 as a catalyst: India's participation in global SARS-CoV-2 genetic data sharing and vaccine development demonstrated the value of the One Health approach in practice.

State-level innovations worth noting for exam answers:

Challenges in Implementation

1. Inter-departmental silos: Health, agriculture, environment, and animal husbandry ministries operate independently — coordination remains structurally weak.

2. Surveillance gaps: Integrated disease surveillance linking animal and human health data is absent in most Indian states.

3. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR): Overuse of antibiotics in livestock directly threatens human health — a classic One Health failure requiring coordinated regulation.

4. Climate-health linkage: Rising temperatures expand vector habitats (mosquitoes, ticks), increasing the range of diseases like dengue, malaria, and Lyme disease — demanding climate-sensitive health planning.

5. Equity in global frameworks: The PABS system under the WHO Pandemic Agreement addresses historical inequity — developing nations often contributed pathogen samples but received vaccines last during COVID-19.

Implications for India

• Food security: Zoonotic outbreaks in livestock (e.g., avian influenza, Nipah) directly threaten food supply chains and farmer livelihoods.
• Tribal and forest communities: Most vulnerable to zoonotic spillover given proximity to wildlife — One Health must be community-inclusive.
• AMR governance: India is among the world's largest consumers of antibiotics — both human and veterinary — making AMR a national security-level health threat.
• Biodiversity conservation: Protecting forest and wetland ecosystems is simultaneously a health intervention, not merely an environmental one.

Way Forward

• Operationalise the National One Health Mission with statutory inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms.
• Build integrated zoonotic disease surveillance networks linking veterinary, forest, and public health data.
• Incorporate One Health metrics into District Health Action Plans.
• Regulate veterinary antibiotic use to address AMR at source.
• Scale successful state models (Odisha, Kerala, Tamil Nadu) nationally.
• Engage local communities and indigenous knowledge systems in ecosystem-health monitoring.

Conclusion

One Health is not a niche scientific concept — it is a governance paradigm for the 21st century. As climate change disrupts ecosystems, antibiotic resistance grows, and novel pathogens emerge with increasing frequency, the artificial separation of human, animal, and environmental health becomes not just intellectually untenable but administratively dangerous. India's National One Health Mission is a step forward, but its success depends on genuine inter-sectoral integration, community participation, and sustained investment in surveillance infrastructure. The question is no longer whether to adopt One Health — it is how fast.