Interpretive Summary: Seeking interdisciplinary solutions at the interface of animal, human, plant, and environmental health

By: Sara M Tomis

Human beings have interacted with flora and fauna in their shared environment throughout history. These relationships—necessary for food, shelter, and companionship—reflect a deep connection with both living and nonliving elements in our world. Societal progress, however, has altered our interactions with animals, plants, and the environment. The exploitative and destructive tendencies of the human species are on full display in the context of population growth, market globalization, and insatiable consumerism.

As a result, we now face a complex set of challenges that will require a significant paradigm shift to address. Sophisticated and multifactorial challenges such as antibiotic resistance, food safety and insecurity, and zoonotic diseases perpetuated and influenced by human activity pose threats to health for all players in the global story. The multidisciplinary characteristics of these challenges, along with their intrinsic implications on social, political, and economic levels, call for an integrated approach to health and solution-making. Thus enters “One Health,” a global framework for collaborative action across disciplinary boundaries for the collective health of humans, animals, plants, and the environment.

Read the full article in the latest issue of Animal Frontiers: One Health for a Sustainable Future.