Calling for a COVID-19 One Health Research Coalition
Authors: John H Amuasi, Christian Walzer, David Heymann, Hélène Carabin, Le Thi Huong, Andrew Haines, Andrea S Winkler
Journal: The Lancet (2020)

Emerging from its ancestral bat host in December, 2019,1Zhou P Yang X-L Wang X-G et al.A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin.Nature. 2020; 579: 270-273Crossref PubMed Scopus (14414) Google Scholar possibly at a wildlife trading market in Wuhan, China,2Zhang Y-Z Holmes EC A genomic perspective on the origin and emergence of SARS-CoV-2.Cell. 2020; 181: 223-227Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (542) Google Scholar severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had by mid-April, 2020, spread globally, infecting more than 2 million individuals and causing at least 130 000 deaths. Travel restrictions were imposed, borders sealed, schools and businesses closed, and more than half of humanity locked down, all to reduce the spread of this virus. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is not just a global pandemic caused by the zoonotic SARS-CoV-2 but represents a critical pivot point in modern times, joining only a few episodes in recorded history. The unique features of this world-changing event are its suspected origin at the human–environment–animal interface and its rapid explosion as a result of unprecedented levels of human interconnectivity, mobility, and global trade.3Tatem AJ Hay SI Rogers DJ Global traffic and disease vector dispersal.Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2006; 103: 6242-6247Crossref PubMed Scopus (416) Google Scholar COVID-19 epitomises why One Health, which recognises the fundamental interconnectedness of humans, animals, and their shared environment, is key to ensuring the healthy and sustainable future of the planet. There is important global consensus on many issues around health and the sustainability of our socioeconomy and ecosystems. For example, global health challenges, such as emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and non-communicable diseases, are further fuelled by global trends related to climate change, growing populations, consumerism, poverty, conflict, and migration.4Butler CD Infectious disease emergence and global change: thinking systemically in a shrinking world.Infect Dis Poverty. 2012; 1: 5Crossref PubMed Scopus (53) Google Scholar However, a great deal still remains unclear or unknown. The world cannot afford to proceed without some foresight because missteps can lead to disaster. Neither can the world afford to be rigid in the charted path. Flexibility will be required as knowledge advances. Research anchored in the recognition that the health of our planet hinges on symbiotic relationships between humans, animals, and the environment that we share and in the understanding that we are interconnected by default must gather evidence for a framework within which to interpret and apply this evidence towards preventing further global catastrophes. The Chairs of the Lancet One Health Commission, together with colleagues, call for the establishment of an inclusive and transparent COVID-19 One Health Research Coalition to strengthen linkages with the evolving climate change and planetary health research community. This multidisciplinary and multilateral coalition would galvanise the research community and research funders towards designing, undertaking, coordinating, and synthesising research at the human–environment–animal interface for the creation of a healthy and sustainable reconnected future for our planet. The COVID-19 One Health Research Coalition is in the interim being hosted by the Oslo-based Secretariat of the Lancet One Health Commission. Inquiries regarding the coalition may be sent to [email protected] The COVID-19 One Health Research Coalition is in the interim being hosted by the Oslo-based Secretariat of the Lancet One Health Commission. Inquiries regarding the coalition may be sent to [email protected] ASW and JHA are co-Chairs of the Lancet One Health Commission. All other authors declare no competing interests. Reconnecting for our future: The Lancet One Health CommissionThe evolution and sustenance of our planet hinges on a symbiotic relationship between humans, animals, and the environment that we share—we are interconnected. However, this past century has seen human dominance over the biosphere, manifest in technological innovations, accelerated mobility, and converted ecosystems that characterise industrialisation, globalisation, and urbanisation.1 These developmental trajectories have advanced human health in unprecedented ways. However, they also make humans increasingly vulnerable to contemporary global health challenges, such as emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases,2 as shown by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, antimicrobial resistance (AMR),3 and the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases. Full-Text PDF One Health or Planetary Health for pandemic prevention?It is a well accepted narrative that the disruption of forests, rapid urbanisation, and population growth are driving zoonotic events simply by increasing close contact between people and animals.1 However, these predictor variables (eg, urbanisation, land usage, human population density) only explain about 30% of the total variation in zoonotic potential.2 With advancing technologies, it has been shown that vertebrate RNA viruses, despite transmitting between species, have co-evolved with their hosts for millions of years, which only strengthens the theory that zoonotic diseases caused by RNA virus spillover, such as COVID-19, are linked to human activities and transformation of ecosystems. Full-Text PDF One Health or Planetary Health for pandemic prevention? – Authors' replyOne Health recognises the fundamental interconnectedness and complex interdependence of all living species and their shared environment.1 Thus, a view that One Health is focused on human–animal interaction alone, primarily addresses the risk of zoonotic events, and that these events occur as a result of urbanisation, land usage, and increasing human population density, therefore suggesting that One Health is sufficient to address pandemic risks, is flawed. Nevertheless, there is abundant evidence that disease agents of zoonotic origin account for over half of all emerging or re-emerging human infectious diseases,2 often with pandemic potential. Full-Text PDF