The Principles Of Manhattan-one Health Approach

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and The Rockefeller University convened a symposium in September 2004 that brought together health professionals from all around the world to discuss the existing and potential spread of illnesses among human, domestic animal, and wildlife populations.

 

The World Health Organization, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center, the United States Department of Agriculture, the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre, the Laboratoire Nationale de Sante Publique of Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law, and the World Conservation Society were among the organizations that sent representatives. 

 

The Manhattan Principles, the symposium's final report, offers the following 12 suggestions for developing a more comprehensive strategy for preventing epidemic and epizootic disease and preserving ecosystem integrity for the benefit of people, their domesticated animals, and the fundamental biodiversity that sustains us all: 

We are reminded of the close relationship between human and animal health by recent epidemics of the West Nile Virus, Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever, SARS, monkey pox, Mad Cow Disease, and Avian Influenza. One Health, the convergence of human, domestic animal, and wildlife health, is the only way to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of health and disease. 

 

Species extinction, habitat loss, pollution, invading alien species, and climate change are all profoundly altering life on our planet, from the arid deserts and deep oceans to the world's most populous cities. Infectious diseases are on the rise and are already on the rise again, endangering not just humans (and their food supplies and economies), but also the flora and animals that make up the vital biodiversity that sustains the living infrastructure of our planet. 

 

There has never been a more direct connection between the sincerity and effectiveness of humankind's environmental management and our long-term health. Interdisciplinary and cross-sectorial approaches to disease prevention, surveillance, monitoring, control, and mitigation as well as environmental conservation more generally are required to defeat the diseases of the 21st century while preserving the biological integrity of the Earth for future generations.

 

We implore international leaders, civil society, the community of global health professionals, and scientific institutions to:

1. Recognize the crucial connection between the health of people, domestic animals, and wildlife, as well as the threat that disease poses to people's food sources, economies, and the biodiversity needed to preserve the ecosystems and surroundings that are necessary for everyone. 

 

2. Acknowledge that decisions on how to manage land and water actually affect people's health. When we ignore this connection, changes in disease development and transmission patterns as well as changes in ecosystem resilience become apparent.

 

3. Recognize the importance of wildlife health research in the prevention, surveillance, monitoring, control, and mitigation of world illness.

 

4. Appreciate how much human health initiatives may help with conservation efforts.

 

5. Create flexible, comprehensive, and forward-thinking strategies for preventing, monitoring, controlling, and mitigating newly emerging and reemerging illnesses that fully take into consideration the intricate relationships between species.

 

 6. Look for chances to completely integrate human requirements (particularly those linked to domestic animal health) with perspectives on biodiversity conservation when creating solutions to infectious disease concerns.

 

7. In order to safeguard wildlife populations as well as reduce the dangers of disease transmission, interspecies disease transmission, and the emergence of novel pathogen-host associations, there should be reduced demand for and better regulation of the worldwide trade in live animals and bush meat.

 

The global community must confront this trade as the genuine threat it represents to global socioeconomic security since the consequences of its effects on public health, agriculture, and conservation are tremendous. 

 

8. Limit the mass killing of free-ranging animal species for the purpose of disease management to instances where there is interdisciplinary, international scientific agreement that a wildlife population offers an immediate, serious risk to human health, food security, or wildlife health in general.

 

9. Invest more money in the world's infrastructure for human and animal health, in line with the seriousness of the threats that newly emerging and reemerging diseases to people, domestic animals, and wildlife pose. The coordination of responses among governmental and nongovernmental organizations, public and animal health institutions, vaccine / pharmaceutical manufacturers, and other stakeholders can only be made better with increased capacity for global human and animal health surveillance and for clear, timely information-sharing (that takes language barriers into account). 

 

10. Establish cooperative partnerships with local residents, governments, and the public and private (i.e., non-profit) sectors to address the issues of global health and biodiversity preservation.

 

11. As part of early warning systems for the introduction and return of disease concerns, adequately fund and support international wildlife health surveillance networks that share disease information with the public health and agricultural animal health sectors.

 

12. Invest in educating and increasing awareness among the global populace, as well as in influencing the policy-making process, to increase recognition that, in order to succeed in enhancing the prospects for a healthier planet, we must better understand the relationships between health and ecosystem integrity. 

 

It is obvious that in the modern, globalized world, no one field of study or sector of society possesses the knowledge and resources necessary to stop the spread or resurgence of illnesses. The patterns of habitat loss and extinction that threaten both human and animal health cannot be undone by any one country. We can only release the innovation and skill required to address the numerous major threats to the health of humans, domestic animals, wildlife, and ecological integrity by tearing down the boundaries between agencies, individuals, specialties, and sectors. 

 

With yesterday's methods, we cannot address the dangers of today and the issues of tomorrow. We must develop flexible, forward-thinking, and multidisciplinary answers to the issues that definitely lie ahead since we live in an era of "One World, One Health."