The Promotion and Development of One Health at Swiss TPH and Its Greater Potential

Abstract

One Health, an integrated health concept, is now an integral part of health research and development. One Health overlaps with other integrated approaches to health such as EcoHealth or Planetary Health, which not only consider the patient or population groups but include them in the social-ecological context. One Health has gained the widest foothold politically, institutionally, and in operational implementation. Increasingly, One Health is becoming part of reporting under the International Health Legislation (IHR 2005). The Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) has played a part in these developments with one of the first mentions of One Health in the biomedical literature. Here, we summarise the history of ideas and processes that led to the development of One Health research and development at the Swiss TPH, clarify its theoretical and methodological foundations, and explore its larger societal potential as an integrated approach to thinking. The history of ideas and processes leading to the development of One Health research at the Swiss TPH were inspired by far-sighted and open ideas of the directors and heads of departments, without exerting too much influence. They followed the progressing work and supported it with further ideas. These in turn were taken up and further developed by a growing number of individual scientists. These ideas were related to other strands of knowledge from economics, molecular biology, anthropology, sociology, theology, and linguistics. We endeavour to relate Western biomedical forms of knowledge generation with other forms, such as Mayan medicine. One Health, in its present form, has been influenced by African mobile pastoralists’ integrated thinking that have been taken up into Western epistemologies. The intercultural nature of global and regional One Health approaches will inevitably undergo further scrutiny of successful ways fostering inter-epistemic interaction. Now theoretically well grounded, the One Health approach of seeking benefits for all through better and more equitable cooperation can clearly be applied to engagement in solving major societal problems such as social inequality, animal protection and welfare, environmental protection, climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and conflict transformation.

Sudden emergence and spread of cutaneous larva migrans in Sudan: A case series calls for urgent actions

“…There is a growing reports about detection of CLM among return travelers, this is very alarming because with climate change and global warming, introduction of CLM-causing hookworms into novel areas might lead to the establishment of the disease locally and expanding it is geographical distribution [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] . Similarly in Sudan, the emergence and spread of CLM in the country that we report here for the first time is associated with substantial socioeconomic, geopolitical, and climate changes that are highlighted by the escalation of political instability that led to growing violence and devastating economic crisis, and extreme weather events effected the country since late 2018 [18] , [19] , [20] . Several outbreaks of infectious diseases were driven by these changes including chikungunya, Cholera, Rift Valley fever, dengue, Hepatitis E, and malaria [18] , [19] , [20] .…”

Rift Valley fever and malaria co‐infection: A case report

“…These outbreaks were associated with climate change and sudden forcible displacement of human and animals populations as well as international travel and unplanned urbanization. 25 Considering the lack of effective treatment and zoonotic nature of arboviral diseases, their prevention and control rely on the implementation of a transdisciplinary One Health strategy 13,42 including the integration of diseases control programs, 43 enhanced surveillance and control of diseases vectors, 18,43,44 improving the water sanitation and hygiene, 45 and the use of vaccines. 40,46 More importantly, stakeholders of health, humanitarian, and development sectors should invest more on long-term and comprehensive solutions including restoring peace and social construction, improving living conditions, implementing adaptation and mitigation plan for climate change.…”

The First Molecular Detection of Aedes albopictus in Sudan Associates with Increased Outbreaks of Chikungunya and Dengue

“…Nonetheless, the delay in detecting the emergence of these vectors of arboviral diseases that we report here could be attributed to the partial freeze in environmental and public health services due to the global COVID-19 pandemic [ 51 ]. Therefore, the need for a One Health-integrated surveillance and response system for diseases and their vectors is extreme and urgent [ 50 , 52 , 53 , 54 ].…”

“…However, due to their evolution, high rate of mutations, and capacity to spillover and spill back, the host range and competency of different arthropods to transmit the different arboviruses is persistently expanding [ 67 , 68 ]. Considering the climate change, rapid unplanned urbanization, globalization, conflicts, and increased size of population lives in humanitarian crisis with limited services, now more than ever, there is a severe need for a countrywide One Health-integrated surveillance and response system to prevent future pandemics [ 52 , 54 , 69 ]. Particularly, the geographical location of Sudan, its size spanning over different ecological zones, including coastal, desert, poor and rich Savanah, and forest, its wide open international borders with many neighboring countries, and the high variety and size of domestic and wildlife animal populations in the country make it very prone for the emergence of pandemics of viral hemorrhagic fevers [ 70 ].…”

“…Particularly, samples of the same species of vectors with similar meta-data (place and date of collection) could be pooled together to further reduce the molecular testing cost. Furthermore, through the implementation of the integrated One Health, molecular xenosurveillance, and response system, there is less delay between identifying diseases circulating in the area and the implementation of control measures to prevent potential epidemics, outbreaks, and pandemics [ 52 , 54 , 72 , 73 ]. The added value of this approach, which includes but is not limited to, less morbidity and mortality among humans, less social disturbance, as well as less economic and environmental loss, makes it worth the investment [ 52 , 74 ].…”