March 2014


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One Health can be defined as “the collaborative efforts of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals and the environment”. In simple terms, experts in different scientific disciplines working together to address major health issues – much easier said than done.

The UWI’s Faculty of Medical Sciences (FMS) was founded on the “One Medicine” concept, which recognises the interdependence of the medical sciences. One Health goes a step further and includes the environment in this unarguable interdependence. The School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) is currently advocating the One Health concept, realising that veterinarians play a critical role in this new and globally accepted concept and, along with its parent faculty (FMS), is actively seeking to change the way we address some of the major health problems facing Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean region.

Recently, the European Commission (EC) approved an SVM-led project which partners with international organisations such as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), as well as Caribbean governments, to roll out this One Health approach across the region. This should sow the seeds of One Health across the region, enabling the sharing of expertise and resources among Caribbean countries. Improved capacity and capability would allow for better preparation and response to outbreaks of infectious diseases in both humans and animals in future years.

The benefits are obvious. Most Caribbean islands and territories are small, resource-limited and have little capacity to respond to human, animal, zoonotic, aquatic and plant disease outbreaks. This lack of capacity, combined with the high burden of human, animal and plant infectious diseases, clearly point towards the relevance of pursuing a One Health approach involving close collaboration and sharing of resources between sectors both within and among island states.

The threat to people, wildlife and domestic animals across the world is increasing as environmental climate change, human population growth, free movement of animals and humans and changing land use cause new and old pathogens to emerge and spread. Human health is intimately connected to and dependent on healthy animals and a healthy environment. Each cannot be treated in isolation. A One Health approach to the management of infectious diseases will improve chances of both controlling and preventing their spread and, in the process, will minimize the social, economic and environmental impact. The growth of the global population and climate change will make this approach even more of an imperative.

Mosquito transmitted viruses cause some of the most significant diseases known to both animals and humans. Dengue fever, together with associated dengue haemorrhagic fever, is the world's fastest growing vector-borne disease. Add into the mix, the emergence of the Chikungunya virus for the first time within the Caribbean. This virus is currently spreading from island to island in the Caribbean and has recently been confirmed to be present for the first time in South America (French Guyana). The speed of spread of this mosquito-transmitted virus is extremely alarming and it is only a matter to time before we see this extremely debilitating virus infecting people in Trinidad and Tobago.

Efficient management, prevention and control of mosquito transmitted viruses, such as the Chikungunya virus, require a multidisciplinary One Health approach. First off, a rapid and timely diagnosis of the causative agent is required in the affected species (humans, animals and/or wildlife). A detailed understanding of the disease in each host species, knowledge of the drivers of transmission and knowledge of the social and economic impacts of the disease on the affected communities and populations (human/animal) is required. Such a One Health disease management approach would require input from medical and veterinary clinicians, diagnosticians, wildlife experts, entomologists (mosquito experts), ecologists, urban planners, social scientists, economists, policymakers and the pharmaceutical industry. Information gained from a multidisciplinary approach could then be used to develop a ‘disease action plan’ which would rapidly identify and control the disease in question with minimum social, economic and environmental impact.

Many of the most threatening mosquito transmitted diseases are prevalent in developing countries, where financial and technological hurdles persist, making diagnosis and control extremely challenging. These diseases are not going away. They will continue to pose a significant threat to human and animal populations within the Caribbean in the years to come. Our best recourse is One Health.

Dr Christopher Oura is a Professor in Veterinary Virology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences