WS 21 - One Health

The concept of One Health can be defined as the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines – working together locally, nationally and globally – to attain optimal health for people, animals and the environment.

The session will focus on key challenges for science, health policy and society deriving from the understanding that individual and population health can only be maintained within healthy ecosystems. The UN Sustainable Development Goals acknowledge the relevance of the dynamic interaction between humans, animals and the environment which has major public health implications.

Humans and human health continue to change in future. To promote e.g. precision medicine, one has to be aware of ongoing human evolution, global variation and the impact of the environment. Evolutionary Medicine provides such a framework by combining perspectives from evolutionary biology, clinical medicine and connected fields such as history. A comprehensive understanding of critical future challenges of human health on all levels needs such a holistic approach.

The elements - humans, animals, pathogens, nature in general and even technology and social aspects such as culture – are interrelated. Biomedical technology such as reproductive medicine, regenerative medicine and GWAS-based therapies will heavily have a major impact on human health in future. Understanding of both, natural and men-made evolution of resistance genes and general pathogen adaptations provide critical knowledge for future evidence-based medical interventions.