Deo Prakash Chaturvedi

The One Health approach is about the health of Humans, Animals, Plants, and the Environment in an integrated manner. As we know that in nature, the living (Humans, Animals, Plants) and non-living components (Soil, Water, Air, etc.) interact regularly to create an ecological balance. Various anthropogenic and natural activities like urbanisation, deforestation, agricultural growth, climate change, natural calamities, etc., expedite the interactions among humans, animals, and the environment by shrinking the natural habitat of the animals. Hence, if the health of one component is affected, there is a fair chance that it will spread to other components as well.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the very prominent examples where a virus originated from an animal and spread around the world within a very short period of time. The “One Health” acknowledges this interconnectedness and presents a broad strategy to look after the health of all the components as a whole. Although the “One Health” approach gained much popularity in the 21st century, but the concept is actually old. Its root can be traced to the “One Medicine” concept, which was given by the veterinary scientist Calvin Schwabe in the 1960s. He encouraged cooperation between human and veterinary medicine as a comprehensive health strategy. Similarly, other ideas like “One World, One Health” gained attention during outbreaks such as H5N1 avian influenza. A milestone in the “One Health” approach was achieved in 2004 when the Manhattan Principles were launched by the Wildlife Conservation Society to include wildlife, ecosystems, and human health in a unified health strategy…read more on NOPR