One Health: exploring the connection between human, animal and environmental health

The COVID-19 pandemic came along to change our perspective of the world. It altered the way we view science, healthcare, our security or even social relationships. Four years ago we discovered how humans, animals and the environment are totally interconnected and part of a "whole" that shares the same future.

The World Health Organization estimates that 24% of global diseases and 23% of deaths are attributable to environmental factors, i.e. more than 12.5 million people die each year from these causes worldwide.

This paradigm shift drives the creation of the concept of One Healthconcept, an integrated and unifying approach to balance, optimize and mobilize the public health, veterinary and environmental sectors together, fostering the development of new and better ideas that address root causes and create long-term, sustainable solutions. This approach is especially important for issues such as food and water safety, nutrition, control of diseases that can spread between animals and humans, pollution, and combating resistance to antibiotic-resistant microbes.

In order to go deeper into this approach, the Institute of Biodiversity and Environment (BIOMA) of the University of Navarra has carried out, through the Chair Sanitas, a report which compiles the main parameters that affect the health of people in urban areas in Spain. Aspects such as air pollution, temperature changes, the presence of green areas or water scarcity are reflected in this analysis, which aims to generate and promote lines of research that will serve to find effective guidelines and recommendations for the problems detected.

Over the next few months, the results of this report will be presented in detail, analyzing the current status in Spain. We will also discover advances and successful experiences that this novel approach allows us to achieve, thanks to partnership and cooperation between science and society.