World Health Day / The ‘One Health’ approach: educating the public

---

Extract from the article: World Health Day 2026, celebrated every 7 April, focuses this year on ‘One Health’. This year’s theme, ‘Unite for Health. Support Science’, aims to promote international scientific cooperation, highlight the importance of scientific data in health...

---

World Health Day 2026, celebrated every 7 April, focuses this year on ‘One Health’. This year’s theme, ‘Unite for Health. Support Science’, aims to promote international scientific cooperation, highlight the importance of scientific data in health decisions and strengthen the ‘One Health’ approach. Thus, health is no longer limited to humans. Today, scientists and international institutions recognise a close link between human health, animal health and the health of ecosystems.

The ‘One Health’ approach is based on a simple idea: human health depends on the health of animals and the environment.

According to the World Health Organisation, this approach aims to better understand and manage the interactions between humans, domestic and wild animals, and ecosystems.

These interactions are constant. For example, zoonoses – diseases transmitted from animals to humans, such as Ebola or COVID-19 – air or water pollution that directly affects human health, and the use of antibiotics in livestock farming, which promotes antimicrobial resistance. Thus, no aspect of health can be considered in isolation.

Zoonoses

According to data from the WHO and international partners, nearly 60% of human infectious diseases are of animal origin, and around 75% of emerging diseases originate in animals. These diseases often emerge in contexts of ecological imbalance, such as deforestation, rapid urbanisation, the wildlife trade and climate change. These factors bring humans closer to natural environments and increase the risk of transmission.

For example, the degradation of natural habitats drives certain species closer to inhabited areas, facilitating the transmission of viruses to humans.

The environment

The environment directly influences human health.  Around 24% of deaths worldwide are linked to environmental factors, including pollution, unsafe water and climate change.

Major impacts include air pollution, which causes respiratory and cardiovascular diseases; water contamination, a source of diarrhoeal diseases; and climate change, which facilitates the spread of diseases such as malaria.

The environment also affects animal health, further reinforcing this interdependence.

Animal health

Animal health is often underestimated, but it plays a key role in global health security.

It influences food security, the quality of animal products, the transmission of diseases and the balance of ecosystems.

For example, poorly managed livestock farming can lead to the spread of disease, the overuse of antibiotics and environmental contamination.

Hence the need for an integrated approach involving vets, doctors, environmentalists and policymakers.

Antimicrobial resistance

Antibiotic resistance perfectly illustrates the link between the three dimensions.

In humans, treatments are becoming less effective; in animals, intensive use in livestock farming and in the environment is leading to the spread of resistant bacteria.

A collaborative and multi-sectoral approach

The ‘One Health’ concept involves collaboration between several sectors, including human health, veterinary medicine, agriculture, the environment and scientific research.

This approach enables more effective disease surveillance, better prevention and a coordinated response to health crises.

 

Raymond DZAKPATA

Source: ‘World Health Organisation (WHO)’