By: Caroline K. Mitchell
Since the initial outbreak in the United States, coronavirus (COVID-19) has completely altered life as we know it. It has affected everything from our day-to-day activities and continues to cause an economic and political upset. In order to mitigate global disruptions like the coronavirus in the future, it’s vital we begin looking at the One Health approach to global health.
Adopting the One Health approach is essential when dealing with a zoonotic derived disease – transmitted from animals to humans– like COVID-19. One Health is a collaborative approach—working at all levels including global, national, and local levels—to achieve positive health outcomes with a focus on the connection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment[i]. The scope of One Health covers disease surveillance and the health of the environment and extends to community outreach and public policy regulation.
When it comes to millions of people’s health, it should be a no-brainer that spending money to protect the population and the environment is more than worth it. Unfortunately, that is not the case, so it is important to highlight the economic benefit of the One Health approach to get all sectors on board. COVID-19 has been a perfect example of the tremendous economic impact a zoonotic disease has on the World, and this is not the first time we have seen this kind of economic disruption. It’s estimated the cost of ‘bird flu’ outbreaks exceeded $20 billion since 2003, and East Asia and Canada experienced losses of $41.5 billion due to the SARS outbreak.[ii] To effectively control diseases through the One Health approach, it is estimated to cost $3 billion per year, a cost that is well worth it compared to the negative effects felt on the economy for years to come due to zoonotic disease outbreaks.[iii]
Collaboration is the critical first step to implementing the One Health approach. This involves opening communication lines between veterinarians, human health experts, wildlife experts, and agriculture workers who understand the implications of human activity in every sector[iv]. The role of these experts would be to reinforce veterinary, plant health and safe food, and animal protection practices.[v] Having all sectors in communication and focus on the local level would help to detect risks and potential threats to human health at an early stage.
Disease disproportionally affects those in vulnerable conditions.[vi] The COVID-19 pandemic is no exception, as evidenced by the overrepresented fatality rate in the black population.[vii] Adopting the One Health approach would allow a deep dive into health equity concerns by combining expert opinions from the human health, environmental, animal health, and other sectors in order to develop policy recommendations aimed at preventing and protecting those left unprotected.[viii]
The One Health approach can also help to better understand and combat hunger in our communities by initiating conversations and solutions surrounding food safety and security.[ix] As the population and demand for food production increases, finding sustainable, hygienic, and environmentally friendly ways to feed our communities must be a priority; emphasis should be placed primarily on helping lower-income communities that often fall victim to the adverse environmental effects of negligent agricultural production.[x] Legislation will be the path to success for the One Health approach. All sectors at a national and global level must rely on their expertise in the industry and communicate goals and best practices to all in order to determine the rules, regulations, and prohibitions best suited to reach those goals.[xi]
[i] One Health https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/index.html (last visited Mar. 15, 2021) [http://perma.cc/J95K-FNDR].
[ii] Franck Berthe, Timothy Bouley & Patrick Osewe, One health economics for healthy people, agriculture and environment, World Banks Blogs (Feb 6, 2017), https://blogs.worldbank.org/health/one-health-economics-healthy-people-agriculture-and-environment [http://perma.cc/HSS4-EP5N].
[iii] Id.
[iv] One Health https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/index.html (last visited Mar. 15, 2021) [http://perma.cc/J95K-FNDR].
[v] One Health http://www.fao.org/one-health/en/ (last visited Mar. 15, 2021) [http://perma.cc/L3S3-SY8R].
[vi] Hélène Carabin, Ronald Labonté, Arne Ruckert, Christina Zarowsky & Kate Zinszer, What role for One Health in the COVID-19 pandemic? 111(5) Can. J. Public Health (2020).
[vii] John Eligon, Audra Burch, Dionne Searcey & Richard Oppel Jr., Black Americans Face Alarming Rates of Coronavirus Infection in Some States, N.Y. Times (Apr. 14, 2020) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/us/coronavirus-race.html [http://perma.cc/WZA2-W7J4].
[viii] Supra note vi.
[ix] Sara Garcia, Bennie Osburn & Michele Jay-Russell, One Health for Food Safety, Food Security, and Sustainable Food Production, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Sys. (Jan. 28, 2020) https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2020.00001/full [http://perma.cc/57AW-SRN6].
[x] Supra note vi.
[xi] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, One Health legislation: Contributing to pandemic prevention through law, http://www.fao.org/3/ca9729en/ca9729en.pdf [http://perma.cc/9YEZ-8AEL].