Health and Healthcare Delivery
The One Health Initiative is a global movement to promote and enhance collaboration and convergence in health research and healthcare delivery, involving medicine, veterinary medicine and related scientific disciplines. It has been endorsed and incorporated into the strategic thinking of such influential organizations as the Wellcome Trust, the World Health Organisation, American Medical Association, American Veterinary Medical Association, the World Bank, and the Food and Agriculture Association.
One example of the necessity of such a strategy is the recognition of the fact that approximately 60% of human diseases are associated with infectious agents that move across species barriers, and that 75% of new emerging diseases of man are zoonotic in origin. The spread of resistance to chemotherapeutic agents used in animals and man, the biomedical research potential of animal disease models, the potential of “functional foods” and the impact on mental health of companion animals are some other examples of areas that can benefit from the One Health approach.
Because of the breadth and depth of its health related disciplines. UCD is exceptionally well equipped as an institution to deliver on the challenges and benefits of the One Health paradigm. The following areas from across the School contribute to this theme.
