BRS John Gittleman: TBA

Zoom webinar recording link:

https://ubc.zoom.us/rec/share/cjmuRojYBkaGvQVA-Q6qcSKvEi286xH_dswgnXelKVII10yyAfFzgCtT5yD04Oyq.NlVbV4JjaSaWjPud 
Passcode: 71K+3g@a

host: Jonathan Davies

Title: One Health- what is it, what should it be?

Abstract: One Health, the integration of animal, human and environmental approaches to identify and solve health related issues, is universal to understanding modern problems in society and life at large. Like so many universals - climate change, extinction, poverty - the fact that everyone has a general understanding of One Health does not necessarily translate into effective application and advancement of the field. To some extent this is a reflection of the terminology and familiarity of working across individual fields (silos) of animal, human and ecological disciplines, making common language difficult to carry out. A One Health approach is now more important than ever, with emerging infectious diseases causing 9.6 million deaths globally and costing about $120 billion in the U.S. alone. Such diseases have a complex history, yet it is clear that most originate and pass through animal and environmental contexts before moving onto humans. Therefore, we need to develop integrative, broad-scale approaches that identify determinants of pathogens and predict their responses to animal, human and environmental changes. In this talk, I will summarize the state of the field: describe useful definitions of One Health; identify important and key examples of how One Health is uniquely effective in solving difficult health problems (e.g., Ebola, West Nile, human emerging diseases); and, generally characterize why this approach though difficult is critical to predicting, solving and finding common ground for health issues. To advance the field we must expand interdisciplinary databases to rapidly access information on biodiversity, public health and ecosystems and, to be truly successful, widen One Health applications into agricultural, clinical and environmental issues.