Introducing One Health to medical and veterinary students
Authors: Subhashaan Sreedharan, Silverio Nanni
Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health (2019)

We read with interest the Comment by Maria De Giusti and colleagues,1De Giusti M Barbato D Lia L et al.Collaboration between human and veterinary medicine as a tool to solve public health problems.Lancet Planet Health. 2019; 3: e64-e65Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (10) Google Scholar in which they highlight the benefits of using a One Health approach in human and veterinary medicine. As the authors aptly describe, human and veterinary medicine share common issues and challenges, such as zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance. An interdisciplinary approach might be effective in overcoming the challenges common to both human and animal health. However, despite the attempts of various organisations and governments to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, there is still little cooperation between the two disciplines. The American Medical Association and American Veterinary Medical Association endorsed the concept of One Health in 2008,2King LJ Anderson LR Blackmore CG et al.Executive summary of the AVMA One Health Initiative Task Force report.J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2008; 233: 259-261Crossref PubMed Scopus (95) Google Scholar and pledged to improve communication between the two professions. A decade on and still little progress has been made. We propose that new strategies are required for the One Health initiative to gain traction. We suggest that one such strategy to improve communication between human and veterinary medicine is to begin with students. Introducing interdisciplinary group projects into the curricula of medical and veterinary schools would foster teamwork and early networking between veterinary and medical students. Similar projects are already being implemented in the USA. The Zoobiquity Research Initiative pairs veterinary students from the University of California Davis with medical students from the University of California Los Angeles to work collaboratively on projects affecting animal and human health.3Horowitz BN Bowers K Zoobiquity: what animals can teach us about being human. Random House, New York2012Google Scholar Encouragingly, Edwards and colleagues4Edwards JC Walsum Kv Sanders CW et al.Attitudes of veterinary medical students and medical students toward collaborative learning: an experiment.J Vet Med Educ. 2004; 31: 77-79Crossref Google Scholar reported that medical student attitudes towards collaborative learning were more positive after an interdisciplinary surgical skills session with veterinary students. Further studies trialing collaborative learning would provide insight into the feasibility and potential benefits of such a programme. Projects exploring the similarities and differences between the pathogenesis and treatment of common diseases affecting both animals and humans, such as cancer or heart disease, would help medical and veterinary students appreciate the clinical challenges shared by both fields. These learning exercises would provide medical and veterinary students with the opportunity to consider how a collaborative approach might benefit their future patients. Although we acknowledge that this strategy might be logistically challenging, it would certainly be possible in institutions with both a medical and veterinary medicine faculty. The current lack of collaboration between doctors and veterinarians represents a missed opportunity to benefit from interdisciplinary research and clinical practice. To seize this missed opportunity, we propose that medical and veterinary schools should consider incorporating the One Health Initiative into their curricula. We declare no competing interests. Collaboration between human and veterinary medicine as a tool to solve public health problemsThe implementation of an effective collaboration between human and veterinary medicine, environmental protection, and public health is not a fully achieved goal, although several examples of integrated approaches have been documented in Europe. The concept of one world, one health has recently appeared, indicating that the world has suddenly woken up to the link between animal diseases, public health, and the environment. The need for collaboration between the human, animal, and environmental health sectors is due to the increase in emerging human infectious diseases with a zoonotic origin and in the resistance of microorganisms to antimicrobial drugs. Full-Text PDF Open Access