One Health Evidence and Guidance
Putting USAID's One Health Position Statement into Practice
One Health is a pragmatic approach that encourages cross-sectoral collaboration to design effective solutions to complex global challenges where the health of natural systems, humans, and animals are interdependent. USAID’s Position Statement on One Health recognizes One Health as a “cornerstone of USAID’s mission” and an holistic approach to achieve sound, integrated development.
USAID Position Statement on One Health
Recognizing the increasing number and growing complexity of global threats and the need for transdisciplinarity, USAID endorses systems thinking to advance the One Health approach throughout the Agency by adhering to the following guiding principles. This statement was signed by Administrator Power on March 1, 2024.
One Health: A Common Facet in USAID Strategy and Policy
One Health is a pragmatic approach that helps tease apart the complexity and supports collaboration across sectors for long-term, holistic solutions. Learn more below or by downloading this file.
Pathogen Spillover Driven by Rapid Changes in Bat Ecology
During recent decades, pathogens that originated in bats have become an increasing public health concern. Our long-term study identifies the mechanistic connections between habitat loss, climate and increased spillover risk. It provides a framework for examining causes of bat virus spillover and for developing ecological countermeasures to prevent pandemics.
Improving the Ecological and Economic Performance of Agri-environment Schemes: Payment by Modelled Results Versus Payment for Actions
Researchers and policy-makers have become increasingly interested in re-designing agri-environmental policy to improve both economic efficiency and ecological effectiveness. One idea within this debate has been payments for results (outcomes) rather than payment for actions. We compare payment for modelled results findings with approximately equivalent payment for actions schemes intended to deliver increases in the same biodiversity indicators.
Opportunities and Challenges of Bio‐based Fertilizers Utilization for Improving Soil Health
Bio-based fertilizers (BBFs) have been promoted as a solution to help manage bio-waste problems and improve soil health conditions. This study found that contamination of heavy metals and pathogens is the main problem of BBFs implementation. Furthermore, compared to mineral fertilizers, BBFs have obstacles to getting social acceptance due to the challenges of transportation and production cost, the concentration of nutrients, matching crops, and policy framework.
Importance of a One Health Approach in Advancing Global Health Security and the Sustainable Development Goals
The One Health community has faced difficulties in determining specific One Health impact indicators for formally evaluating One Health successes. In this paper, the author a) briefly reviews the ongoing commentary on the recognized benefits of the implementation of a One Health approach in the global health security context, b) discusses challenges in measuring the impact of One Health, and c) proposes possible solutions for evaluating the impact of One Health on global health security.
The Effectiveness of Global Protected Areas for Climate Change Mitigation
Forests play a critical role in stabilizing Earth’s climate. Establishing protected areas (PAs) represents one approach to forest conservation, but PAs were rarely created to mitigate climate change. The global impact of PAs on the carbon cycle has not previously been quantified due to a lack of accurate global-scale carbon stock maps.
Rights and Knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and Planetary Health
This Planetary Health Alliance (PHA) Policy Note aims to elevate the views expressed by Indigenous leaders in the 2023 UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and call attention to how Planetary Health work can align with UNPFII.
Progressive Management Pathway for Terrestrial Animal Biosecurity
FAO has pioneered the progressive management pathway (PMP) approach to assist countries, industries, and producers to gradually implement improved and sustainable levels of risk management. Now, a PMP for terrestrial animal biosecurity is being developed to strengthen biosecurity in terrestrial animal production and associated value chains.
Mapping Potential Conflicts Between Global Agriculture and Terrestrial Conservation
Demand for food products, often from international trade, has brought agricultural land use into direct competition with biodiversity. This study provides a quantitative basis to better understand and manage the large-scale transformative changes between humanity and nature through decisions concerning food consumption, production, and trade.
Coastal Urbanization Influences Human Pathogens and Microdebris Contamination in Seafood
Seafood is one of the leading imported products implicated in foodborne outbreaks worldwide. Coastal marine environments are being increasingly subjected to reduced water quality from urbanization and leading to contamination of important fishery species. To illustrate the potential health risks associated with urbanization in a coastal environment, this research studied a vast range of potential human bacterial pathogens and microdebris contaminants in seawater, sediment and an important oyster fishery along the Mergui Archipelago in Myanmar.
WHO Guidance for Climate-resilient and Environmentally Sustainable Health Care Facilities
The aim of this guidance is to enhance the capacity of health care facilities to protect and improve the health of their target communities in an unstable and changing climate; and to empower health care facilities to be environmentally sustainable, by optimizing the use of resources and minimizing the release of waste into the environment. Climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable health care facilities contribute to high quality of care and accessibility of services, and by helping reduce facility costs also ensure better affordability.
Healthy Soil for Healthy Humans and a Healthy Planet
This review argues that a healthy soil is multifunctional and is capable of supporting human and planetary health. A broad framework is provided for quantifying soil health, with such an approach enabling a shift in the way we think about, plan, and manage systems to ensure ongoing planetary and human health.
Plastic Pollution: How Can the Global Health Community Fight the Growing Problem?
Plastic products and plastic waste threaten human health because of their toxicity, role in disease propagation, possible interference with food supply through their environmental effects and socioeconomic impacts. Despite the burden caused by plastic pollution, the topic does not appear to be a priority on the agenda of the global public health community. International health organizations have not been vocal about plastic pollution as a health threat, and the issue is not frequently discussed in the global health scientific literature.
How Crop-livestock Clinics Are Advancing One Health: A Pilot Case from Uganda
This case narrates the early experiences with crop–livestock clinics – a novel, integrated advisory service for smallholder farmers, which is based on existing government extension structures and capacities. The pilot work is carried out by a transdisciplinary team exploring clinic operations and possible synergies and efficiency gains in four districts in central Uganda.
One Health in Turkana County, Kenya: Applications and Lessons Learned
This case describes the development of the One Health Strategy in Turkana County, Kenya. Turkana can act as a model for implementing One Health to improve the health and livelihoods of pastoralists in the drylands of Northern Kenya and neighboring pastoral regions.
Zoonotic and Environmental Disease Risk Assessment Tool
This mnemonic device provides a matrix of questions to assess animal and environment disease risk. HEALTH stands for Human, Environment, Animal, Location, Travel and Habits.
Operationalizing One Health in Pastoralist Settings Module 1: Principles and Applications of One Health
This facilitator guide is intended to help trainers deliver Module 1: Principles and Applications of One Health of the HEAL training package. The Unit aims to develop the capacity of learners with respect to the core knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to practice a One Health approach to address animal, human and environmental health challenges in pastoralist settings in Africa. The Module has both theoretical and practical sessions.
The Use of Environmental Scenarios to Project Future Health Effects: A Scoping Review
Environmental risks are a substantial factor in the current burden of disease, and their role is likely to increase in the future. In this Review, we examine the literature on scenarios modelling environmental effects on health to identify the most relevant findings, common methods used, and important research gaps.
A Planetary Health Innovation for Disease, Food and Water Challenges in Africa
Many communities in low- and middle-income countries globally lack sustainable, cost-effective and mutually beneficial solutions for infectious disease, food, water, and poverty challenges. This research supports the hypothesis that agricultural development and fertilizer use in West Africa increases the burden of the parasitic disease schistosomiasis by fueling the growth of submerged aquatic vegetation that chokes out water access points and serves as habitat for freshwater snails that transmit Schistosoma parasites to more than 200 million people globally.
Co-benefits of Marine Protected Areas for Nature and People
This research uses a statistical matching approach to examine whether marine protected areas are associated with co-benefits or trade-offs between reef fish abundances and measures of human well-being, including income, diet and food security in the Mesoamerican region.
Indigenous Determinants of Health: A Unified Call for Progress
Globally, substantial challenges remain for Indigenous Peoples. The wellbeing of Indigenous Peoples is an explicit determinant of planetary health.
Guidance to Facilitate Monitoring and Evaluation for Antimicrobial Resistance National Action Plans
The aim of the the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is to ensure the continuity of successful treatment with effective and safe medicines. This guidance document was developed as a reference for countries to support the development and delivery of AMR national action plans.
One Health and Neglected Tropical Diseases
One Health is defined as an approach to achieve better health outcomes for humans, animals, and the environment through collaborative and interdisciplinary efforts. Increasingly, the One Health framework is being applied to the management, control, and even elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). In this Special Issue, we present a diverse body of work united under the One Health ideology and a desire to mitigate the devastating effects of NTDs. The numerous diseases, methodologies, and landscapes presented highlight the interconnected and increasingly overlapping existence of humans, animals, and their pathogens.
Association Between Particulate Matter Air Pollution and Clinical Antibiotic Resistance: A Global Analysis
This analysis is the first to describe the association between PM2·5 and clinical antibiotic resistance globally. Results provide new pathways for antibiotic-resistance control from an environmental perspective.
Evaluation of a Global Training Program in One Health communication
A global Train-the-Trainer Program, focused on improving the communication techniques of One Health advocates, is assessed and evaluated in this study. The Program significantly improved the trainee’s confidence in communicating science and teaching novice audiences about One Health.
One Health: We’re All Connected!
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has created this coloring book to offer parents, guardians, and educators an interactive way to talk to kids about how the health of people, animals, and the environment is all connected—known as One Health.
Organising for One Health in a Developing Country
Globally, zoonotic diseases pose an enormous and growing public health challenge, and developing countries are at the epicenter of it. The paper analyses the success and failures associated with the way in which India, Bangladesh, Kenya, and Rwanda have organized for One Health. It also studies the underlying pathways through which zoonotic spillovers take place, and epidemics gather momentum.
Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance by Integrating One Health and the Sustainable Development Goals
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been identified as a leading threat to global public health. One Health approaches that integrate sectors across human health, animal health, food production and the environment are essential to both addressing the growing threat of AMR and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
