A reflection on the concept of «One Health»

Abstract

The concept of “One Health” has been established in recent years, bringing back an old concept of medical research: the interrelationship between different environments. This concept is considered the most useful approach to understanding the dynamics of infectious diseases and related factors, such as antibiotic resistance. However, the use of this term may not be entirely correct when a number of relevant considerations are not addressed; i.e., the changing relationships between different environments (fruit of their own evolutionary dynamics) or the existence of neglected diseases, which are only taken into consideration when their effect expands beyond their traditional areas. In this context, it is important to initiate a debate on how to amend some of these considerations or on the need to introduce other factors that will lead to a more solid development of the concept of “One Health.”