The private sector as a key player in the operationalisation of the One Health concept
One Health recognizes the interconnectedness of humans, animals, plants and the environment they live in and at the same time realises their intrinsic interdependencies. Though the nature of the interrelations at the human-animal-plant-environment interface vary, the contemporary period is one of profound human impact on the life sustaining systems of the earth. This impact takes the form of industrialization, urbanization, and globalization, all of which are developmental trajectories that advance technical and other innovations for health in certain ways, but at the expense of others. Climate change is accelerating, biodiversity is rapidly declining, and humans are both increasingly and unequally vulnerable to a range of global health threats spanning infectious disease, antimicrobial resistance, and non-communicable disease. Current developments, of which COVID-19 is just one example, require a realignment of perceptions of health and well-being at the global level between different sectors, such as the public and private sectors, among others.
In this respect, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have brought political decision makers and the academic sector closer together in the search for evidence to underpin political decision making based on the One Health concept. In the context of a One Health re-alignment, the potential of the private sector has not yet been fully realised. We are therefore suggesting an expert panel discussion to define the various One Health entry points of the private sector for inter-, transdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration to operationalize and promote of One Health in times of pandemics, climate change and unprecedented biodiversity loss.
Moderators
- Babette Simon, Faculty of Health, University of Paris
- Andrea Sylvia Winkler, Center for Global Health, Technical University of Munich and Centre for Global Health, University of Oslo
Speakers
- Kelly McCain, World Economic Forum
- Uta Jungermann, World Business Council For Sustainable Development
- Jutta Reinhard-Rupp, Merck Global Health Institute