In the face of escalating health, environmental, and food crises, the One Health approach is emerging as an essential response. Gathered in Lyon on April 6 and 7, public and private stakeholders reaffirmed the urgent need for coordinated action based on prevention, international cooperation, and the breaking down of sectoral silos.

Human health cannot be considered in isolation from the health of animals and ecosystems. Today, approximately 60% of emerging infectious diseases originate in animals, and 75% of emerging human diseases come from animals. Each year, around five new diseases appear, three of which are zoonotic in origin (Ebola, COVID-19). In a world where 811 million people go to bed hungry and over 20% of global livestock production losses are disease-related, the One Health approach seeks to anticipate and prevent crises by fostering collaboration across disciplines—medicine, veterinary health, agronomy, ecology—and across regions. 

From dialogue to action: transforming systems

The One Health Summit highlighted several levers to sustainably evolve health systems: strengthening international cooperation, rethinking institutional frameworks, engaging public and private actors, and developing more effective surveillance mechanisms. Since 2003, diseases and pandemics have caused over 15 million deaths and economic losses of USD 4 trillion. The challenge is clear: shift from a reactive to a preventive approach, leveraging science, innovation, and enhanced coordination across all levels of intervention.

IECD: Training to Prevent and Act Locally

While the One Health Summit underscored the need for a global and coordinated response, such an approach cannot succeed without health professionals trained to think and act in an integrated way. Through its initial and continuing education programs, IECD works to build more resilient health systems by placing prevention, community proximity, and a holistic approach to patient care at the heart of its competency frameworks. Training a health professional to detect a zoonosis early in their region, raise community awareness of the risks associated with human-animal-environment interactions, and efficiently connect with existing surveillance systems is a concrete way to translate the ambitions of the Lyon Summit at the local level. In this sense, strengthening the capacities of frontline health personnel is not just a development goal—it is an essential link in global health security.