One Health: Connecting People, Environments, Animals and Plants for Sustainable Health Futures

In a post-COVID world, the field of public health has had to become increasingly multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral, as the world recognizes that human, planetary, animal and environmental health is tightly entwined. Advancing solutions to public health challenges will require the intentional removal of silos from traditionally segmented areas of research. This is in part why the field of One Health is growing in prominence and is becoming more central to public health research, as there is an increasing need to understand how actions and planetary changes can impact biological and ecological health. The importance of a One Health systems approach has been clearly signaled by the formation of the WHO One Health High Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP) and with discussions around plans to establish a One Sustainable Health Institute forming a focal part of this year’s World Health Summit in Berlin.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

One Health is a collaborative, multisectoral, and trans-disciplinary approach — working at the local, regional, national, and global levels — with the goal of achieving optimal health outcomes recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment.

On the occasion of One Health Day, PLOS Global Public Health, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases and PLOS Pathogens are proud to present papers that touch on all aspects of One Health, across the human-animal-ecosystem interface, spanning infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, environmental pollution, climate change and zoonoses. As the research ecosystem continues to evolve and bring links between human, animal and ecosystem health to the forefront of public health policy agendas, we welcome submissions on these topics across a wide range of journals.

Infectious Diseases

One Health: A new definition for a sustainable and healthy future (PLOS Pathogens)

Epidemiology of Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli at the human-animal-environment interface in a farming community of central Uganda (PLOS Global Public Health)

A combined field study of Buruli ulcer disease in southeast Benin proposing preventive strategies based on epidemiological, geographic, behavioural and environmental analyses (PLOS Global Public Health)

Tackling a global epidemic threat: Nipah surveillance in Bangladesh, 2006–2021 (PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases)

One Health and surveillance of zoonotic tuberculosis in selected low-income, middle-income and high-income countries: A systematic review (PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases)

Antimicrobial Resistance

Behavior-change interventions to improve antimicrobial stewardship in human health, animal health, and livestock agriculture: A systematic review (PLOS Global Public Health)

Global trends in antimicrobial use in food-producing animals: 2020 to 2030 (PLOS Global Public Health)

Climate Change

NTD programmes hold the key to universal health coverage and better climate and emergency responses (PLOS Global Public Health)

Transmission patterns of Leishmania tropica around the Mediterranean basin: Could Morocco be impacted by a zoonotic spillover? (PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases)

Assessing dengue fever risk in Costa Rica by using climate variables and machine learning techniques (PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases)

Environmental Pollution

The Links of Fine Airborne Particulate Matter Exposure to Occurrence of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases in Michigan, USA (PLOS Global Public Health)

Time series analyses based on the joint lagged effect analysis of pollution and meteorological factors of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and the construction of prediction model (PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases)

Cryptosporidiosis outbreaks linked to the public water supply in a military camp, France (PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases)

Zoonotic Diseases

Using One Health assessments to leverage endemic disease frameworks for emerging zoonotic disease threats in Libya (PLOS Global Public Health)

Zoonoses and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population: A One Health scoping review (PLOS Global Public Health)

A participatory epidemiological and One Health approach to explore the community’s capacity to detect emerging zoonoses and surveillance network opportunities in the forest region of Guinea (PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases)

Current knowledge of vector-borne zoonotic pathogens in Zambia: A clarion call to scaling-up “One Health” research in the wake of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases (PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases)

Prevention of zoonotic spillover: From relying on response to reducing the risk at source (PLOS Pathogens)

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Does your research explore health through a One Health lens? Learn more about opportunities to publish your work Open Access in one of our journals by visiting our websites:

PLOS Global Public Health | PLOS Medicine | PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases | PLOS Pathogens