The ‘One Health’ Synthesis: Climate Change and Infectious Disease Preparedness

Abstract

: The rising climate crisis has been reported to be the key element of the modern outbreak of infectious diseases, and empirical evidence has indicated that a quarter of all the known human pathogens are now complexified by climatic risks (Anderson, 2003). The paper explains that One Health synthesis is an important paradigm in the 21st century of biosecurity, where changes made by man, such as global warming, erratic weather patterns, habitat destruction, and others, play a role in the spread of vectors, water-borne diseases, and zoonotic spillovers. Despite the theoretical benefits of One Health, a deficiency of application exists due to silos that typify the sectors, disproportional investment in animal and environmental health, and the use of stationary disease models that are incapable of elucidating the quick warming of the planet.The following paper reflects an argument to support active change in the concept of medical response in the case of a crisis to that of an integrated digital infrastructure, which can be viewed as multisectoral and real-time surveillance, based on the synthesis of recent data and the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the recommendations are the institutionalisation of One Health into the national climate adaptation plans, land-use changes to undergo Health Impact Assessment, and the establishment of climate-sensitive early warning systems. The hypothesis in the paper is that, to safeguard the well-being of the world's health, human, animal and environmental well-being must be viewed as a single assembly that is of importance in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.