One Health, One Science scientific symposium: new recommendations for an integrated global health approach

More than 600 players meeting to put science at the heart of the One Health approach

The scientific symposium, organised by the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Space in collaboration with ANSES, CIRAD, French experts from the inter-agency "One Health" working group (Agralife, APRES, CBSD) and international experts, was attended by more than 600 participants from across the world. Participants looked at the inextricable links between human, animal and environmental health. Their discussions confirmed the need for interaction between science and policymaking, to boost the impact of One Health options worldwide. The symposium, an unprecedented event, brought together the entire range of disciplines and sectors, and succeeded in federating players from all horizons to co-construct innovative scientific solutions capable of responding to complex future health challenges. 

A united approach to address interconnected health challenges

The OH approach is urgently needed to guarantee the global resilience of public health policy. The aim is to take steps as of now to foster transdisciplinary research, inclusive decision making and technological innovation, to build new knowledge, control the impact of human activity and preserve the ecological essentials required for the health of future generations and, more generally, to preserve the living world. Integrated, collective and transformative action is the only way of ensuring that we can anticipate, prevent and respond effectively to constantly changing health crises in an increasingly interconnected world.

The scientific symposium served to draft robust recommendations for fostering this integrated approach. The challenge is how to move on from scattered, reactive interventions to united, proactive prevention against health threats. Human, animal, plant and environmental health must be seen as a single, indivisible entity.

Recommendations to inform decision making

The recommendations made following the symposium hinge on the four central topics of the One Health Summit:

• (Re)emerging infectious diseases: halting disease emergence (or re-emergence) by means of integrated monitoring and more effective prevention at source;
• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR): protecting our medical future through global solidarity and sustainable farming;
• Pollution: mitigating chemical and plastic risks via 'Safe by Design' production, studies of exposure that are truly representative of conditions on the ground, and impact assessments;
• Sustainable food systems: reimagining the link between agriculture and food by means of agroecology, territory-based approaches and healthy, sufficient and balanced diets.

The experts also highlighted the role data play as a catalyst, by enabling in-depth, open and directly usable analyses, while the human and social sciences guarantee more ethical, equitable, locally grounded policies co-constructed with the entire range of stakeholders to ensure that they are taken on board.