Question 1

What is One Health?

Accepted Answer

One Health is an integrated approach recognising that human health, animal health and ecosystem health are interdependent — and that addressing them together is more effective than working in silos. The most pressing global health threats — pandemic zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance, food safety, climate-driven disease emergence — require coordinated action across human medicine, veterinary medicine and environmental science.

Question 2

Why are most emerging diseases zoonotic?

Accepted Answer

60% of all known infectious diseases and 75% of emerging infectious diseases originate in animals — primarily wildlife. This reflects the ecological reality that humans are surrounded by animals that harbour pathogens, and increasing human-animal interface from deforestation, habitat encroachment, wildlife trade and intensive livestock farming creates new spillover opportunities. HIV (from non-human primates), Ebola (from bats), SARS, MERS and COVID-19 (all from bats with intermediate hosts) and H5N1 avian influenza are all animal-origin pandemics.

Question 3

What is the Quadripartite?

Accepted Answer

The Quadripartite comprises WHO (human health), FAO (food and agricultural systems, including livestock), UNEP (environment and ecosystems) and WOAH/OIE (animal health and welfare) — the four international organisations that collectively govern the domains of One Health. Their 2022 One Health Joint Plan of Action commits to coordinated implementation of One Health across five priority tracks: emergency preparedness; antimicrobial resistance; food safety; zoonotic diseases; and the environment-health nexus.

Question 4

How does AMR demonstrate the need for One Health?

Accepted Answer

Antimicrobial resistance is the paradigm case for One Health: approximately 70% of medically important antibiotics are used in food-producing animals, generating resistant bacteria and resistance genes that spread through the food chain, soil, water and direct contact to human pathogens. Controlling AMR requires coordinated action across human medicine (stewardship, infection prevention), veterinary medicine (reducing agricultural antibiotic use) and environmental monitoring (resistance in water and soil). No sector can solve it alone.

Question 5

How does deforestation drive disease emergence?

Accepted Answer

Deforestation and habitat destruction bring humans into contact with wildlife reservoirs of novel pathogens. When intact forest is cleared for agriculture or settlement, wildlife species — including bats (Ebola, SARS, MERS, Nipah, Hendra, COVID-19), rodents (Lassa fever, hantavirus, plague) and primates (HIV, Ebola) — are forced into closer contact with domestic animals and people. This ecological disruption amplifies spillover risk. The EcoHealth Alliance estimates that each 10% loss of forest cover increases zoonotic disease emergence risk by 4.7%.

Question 6

What is the wildlife trade connection?

Accepted Answer

Legal and illegal wildlife trade — the second largest illegal trade globally after drugs — concentrates diverse wild animal species in markets, creating ideal conditions for pathogen mixing and spillover to humans and domestic animals. Wet markets — where live wild animals are sold alongside domestic animals and humans — have been epidemiologically linked to SARS (2003) and are a plausible origin for COVID-19 (2019). WHO, FAO and UNEP call for increased regulation of wildlife trade as a pandemic prevention measure.

Question 7

What is the One Health High-Level Expert Panel?

Accepted Answer

The OHHLEP was convened by the Quadripartite in 2021 to provide scientific guidance on One Health. It produced the first formal definition of One Health, identified priority One Health issues (AMR, food safety, pandemic preparedness, zoonoses, environment-health) and developed the scientific framework for the Quadripartite Joint Plan of Action. Its reports are foundational documents for current global One Health policy.

Question 8

What is the One Health Joint Plan of Action 2022-2026?

Accepted Answer

The Quadripartite One Health Joint Plan of Action (OHJPA) — launched November 2022 — coordinates implementation of One Health across five priority tracks: One Health capacity and enabling environment; disaster risk reduction, preparedness, response and resilience; food safety; zoonotic diseases; AMR; and the environment, climate and ecosystem health nexus. It represents the most comprehensive operationalisation of One Health at the intergovernmental level.

Question 9

How does food safety relate to One Health?

Accepted Answer

Food safety is an inherently One Health issue: pathogens originate in animal populations (Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli O157, Listeria); agricultural chemicals contaminate crops; animal antibiotic use generates resistant bacteria in meat; environmental contamination (aflatoxins, heavy metals) enters the food chain. The Codex Alimentarius — co-managed by WHO and FAO — is the One Health food safety standards body.

Question 10

What is the connection between climate change and zoonoses?

Accepted Answer

Climate change is expanding the geographic range of disease vectors (Aedes mosquitoes, ticks, sandflies), altering wildlife migration patterns and distribution, and pushing wildlife into new areas — all increasing zoonotic spillover risk and established pathogen spread. Dengue is expanding into new European territories; West Nile virus has spread across Europe; Lyme disease is moving northward. One Health surveillance that integrates climate, ecological and human health data is essential for early warning.

Question 11

How does GMJ News cover One Health?

Accepted Answer

GMJ News uses One Health framing across its coverage of zoonotic diseases (rabies, Ebola, H5N1), antimicrobial resistance, food safety and climate-driven disease emergence. Georgia's position at a human-animal-environment interface — with significant livestock, wildlife and agricultural sectors — makes One Health directly relevant to PHIG's public health mandate.

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