One health approach and COVID-19: A perspective

Jorwal, Pooja; Bharadwaj, Swati; Jorwal, Pankaj

One Health is a well-recognized concept; however, it has been at the fringe of most operational health policies rather than being the central theme. Although, global experts and policy makers have agreed on this theory, the transition from a vision to practical application is inconspicuous. COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive damage to the world economy and continues to peril human lives everywhere. Ignorance of the principles of One Health approach in the current health care system has proved to be the Achilles heel of our health policy. Social distancing, lockdown, and hand hygiene are short-term preventive measures imposed by nations worldwide but are difficult to sustain in the long run. Thus, it is long overdue that we change our unidimensional approach regarding the control and prevention of diseases. A rational practice of the One Health strategy should be our utmost priority to control the ongoing grave situation. The purpose of this article is to bring the attention of healthcare professionals and researchers toward the One Health paradigm for the betterment of public health while combating COVID-19 and to prepare for future emergence of infectious diseases. Our assessment for this review is based on the philosophy and views shared by recent publications on the One Health approach which emphasizes an integrated, multisectoral, and holistic concept (animal health-human health-environmental factors) and promotes a transdisciplinary-integrated tactic for disease prevention and control.