One Health News

June 9, 2016    For Immediate Release http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/publications/6-10-16%20%20OH%20Education%20Press%20Release-Final.pdf or http://goo.gl/X4lT3I

Contacts for Media, Interested Project Planning Participants, Individuals and/or Organizations:

George Lueddeke, PhD, Chair, One Health Education Task force  glueddeke@aol.com  Tel: (+44) 023 8042 8966 Mob.: (+44) 7538 162191 

Cheryl Stroud, DVM, PhD, Executive Director, One Health Commission cstroud@onehealthcommission.org   Tel: (+1) 984-500-8593

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Preparing society to create the world we need through ‘One Health’ education!

Two leading international One Health groups, the One Health Commission and the One Health Initiative Autonomous pro bono Team are partnering to help create and promote a comprehensive global education revolution that supports curriculum innovation on the unifying interconnected health of humans, animals, and the environment that sustains all life on earth.  A Concept paper titled ‘Preparing society to create the world we need through ‘One Health’ education has been released calling for interested parties to step forward to help with planning. The One Health concept encompasses a wide range of global public health and comparative medicine endeavors.

Dr. George Lueddeke, one of the “One Health” educational project leaders and author of a new One Health oriented book on global population health and well-being, said that, “In keeping with the UN 2030 global Agenda for Sustainability, there is an urgent need for collective action by policy-makers, public / private educators, and health professionals to provide global ONE HEALTH learning opportunities across the education spectrum.”  

We must give younger generations in both low and high income nations “a better deal” for helping to shape a sustainable world, one that is being tested severely by a threatened environment, conflicts, inequities, poverty, ideological extremes, and consumerism. Time is running short. As one example, data from the Living Planet Index (2014) should “make us stop and think”: “in less than two human generations, population sizes of vertebrate species have dropped by half. These are the living forms that constitute the fabric of the ecosystems which sustain life on earth and the barometer of what we are doing to our planet, our only home.”

“It is becoming increasingly clear that realigning our relationship with the planet and ourselves  rests not with individuals or groups who follow their own narrow self- interests - corporate, political, ideological - but with people who value collaborative approaches to these challenges and who embrace a bolder, broader more hopeful scope of human existence within a sustainable world”, Lueddeke said.

The two groups will work closely with global partners (social, economic, environmental) and support One Health projects led by teachers who want to make a difference.  Adequate funding is being sought and would be made available for innovative curriculum development and implementation beginning in primary/secondary schools and extending through graduate and professional education.

A small pre-project proposal conference is being organized with a goal of achieving consensus on a strong plan to fund the envisioned global learning program. The longer term aim is to establish a multi-dimensional coordinating mechanism to define project parameters, encourage project proposals, prioritize and allocate funding for One Health themed curriculum development projects at local, national and regional levels and evaluate outcomes worldwide.

####

About the initiators:

The One Health Commission is a globally focused 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to promoting improved health of people, domestic animals, wildlife, plants and the environment. Committed to creating unifying interactions and opportunities between animal health, human health and planetary health, it is a gateway for the active exchange of One Health-related knowledge, sharing of resources and collaborative projects that reach beyond disciplinary boundaries.  Working to train the next generation of One Health leaders, the Commission seeks to ‘Connect’ One Health Advocates, to ‘Create’ networks and teams that work together across disciplines to ‘Educate’ about One Health and One Health issues. It does this by leading and facilitating active One Health education initiatives around the world. It is the parent organization for the One Health Education Task Force.   www.onehealthcommission.org

The One Health Initiative Autonomous pro bono Team was originally established in 2006-2007.  The One Health Initiative website, originated October 2008, has been called "the international clearing house for significant One Health information" and by some the "New York Times of One Health.” Its world-wide circulation has been strengthened by its up-to-date One Health News, Publications and Upcoming Events postings relative to animal, human and environmental health.  It is currently estimated to be accessed monthly by roughly 20,000 individual visitors from over 150 countries.  The OHI website is known to have had at least 119 reciprocal links worldwide.  Among the leading high profile search engines the One Health Initiative website is listed first or among the first when either “One Health Initiative” or “One Health” are searched. www.onehealthinitiative.com

U.S. Congressman Recognizes One Health Approach!

June 6, 2016 – Congressman Morgan Griffith, representing Virginia’s 9^th District (USA) recognized the importance of utilizing the principles involved in the One Health concept on his weekly E-newsletter today.  See http://morgangriffith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398573

“One Health” Work in the Ninth District

“A recent Washington Post story picked up by the Roanoke Times touches on what is a fairly new phrase, though it has long been accepted as a concept: the “One Health” concept, which the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describes as recognizing “…that the health of humans is connected to the health of animals and the environment.”

For further explanation, the CDC notes, “Since the 1800s, scientists have noted the similarity in disease processes among animals and humans, but human and animal medicine were practiced separately until the 20th century.  In recent years, through the support of key individuals and vital events, the One Health concept has gained more recognition in the public health and animal health communities.”

In its story entitled “How rare sheep from biblical times may help kids with a deadly genetic disease,” the Washington Post tells of two newborn lambs that, in 1999, became ill, quickly declined in health, and soon died soon after.  The lambs were of a rare breed known as Jacob sheep, and efforts to determine why they died, according to the story, “… ultimately helped advance research into Tay-Sachs, a genetic disease that affects humans as well as animals.”  This is a rare disease for which there currently is no cure.  Sadly, it often kills children before they reach the age of five.

Now, “…scientists are fine-tuning new therapy that has extended life spans in diseased Jacob sheep and in cats.  And the Tay-Sachs Gene Therapy Consortium plans to seek federal approval to begin clinical trials on humans next year.”

This new therapy presents a ray of hope where there previously wasn’t one.

Similar work relating to the One Health concept is being undertaken right in our backyard, as the Ninth Congressional District is one of the few Congressional district to have two veterinary schools.  While Lincoln Memorial University’s College of Veterinary Medicine (LMU-VCM) is technically accredited in Tennessee, its veterinary school is located in Ewing, Virginia, which is just over the Tennessee line in Lee County.

The Virginia–Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM), which is affiliated with Virginia Tech, has a robust biomedical sciences research program.  Among its areas of emphasis are infectious diseases (particularly viral infections), auto-immune diseases, regenerative medicine, oncology, and neurology, much of which involves animal models of disease.

While we regrettably do not have unlimited space in which to highlight every individual involved in this work, VMRCVM professor Dr. X.J. Meng was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences, which is among the highest honors given to scientists in the United States.  He was elected for his work in virology, which included diseases that are zoonotic, meaning they affect both animals and humans.  He is considered one of the world’s leading scientists in hepatitis E virus, porcine circovirus type 2, and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, and his discovery of the swine hepatitis E virus in pigs led to the recognition of hepatitis E as a zoonotic disease.

Additionally, the Lincoln Memorial University’s College of Veterinary Medicine (LMU-CVM) has made One Health courses an integral part of its curriculum.  Its researchers work on a number of animal diseases relevant from a human health perspective.

As an example, one researcher is examining the mechanisms that leptospirosis- (a bacterial disease affecting both humans and animals) and Lyme disease-causing bacteria employ in order to successfully infect their hosts.  This research has identified several virulence factors, which are being evaluated for their usefulness as diagnostic and vaccine candidates.  Other LMU-CVM research involves cancer and equine asthma, which may eventually add to our understanding of diseases in people.

This ongoing One Health research as well as our ongoing efforts at the federal level through the 21st Century Cures initiative (more information can be found on my website) to find cures for the more than 10,000 known diseases or conditions is helping to provide hope to patients, and I know it is making a difference.

If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office.  You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671.  To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov"

South Eastern European Journal of Public Health (SEEJPH)

Preparing society to create the world we need through ‘One Health’ education

George R. Lueddeke, PhD, Gretchen E. Kaufmann, DVM, Laura H. Kahn, MD, MPH, MPP,  Rosina C. (Tammi) Krecek, DSc, MBA,  A. Lee Willingham, DVM, PhD,  Cheryl M. Stroud, DVM, PhD,  Johann M. Lindenmayer, DVM, MPH, Bruce Kaplan, DVM, Lisa A. Conti, DVM, MPH, Thomas P. Monath, MD, John (Jack) Woodall, PhD

Cite this article: Lueddeke G, Kaufmann G, Kahn L, Krecek R, Willingham A, Stroud C, Lindenmayer J, Kaplan B, Conti L, Monath T, Woodall J. Preparing society to create the world we need through ‘One Health’ education. SEEJPH 2016, Vol. 6. DOI 10.4119/UNIBI/SEEJPH-2016-122

Abstract

Growing concerns about a threatened environment, conflicts, inequities, poverty, ideological extremes, and consumerism  are all indicative of a pressing need to reflect on the global status quo and to find constructive and long-term, sustainable strategies for planet and people. The need to give the younger generation “a better deal” for helping to shape a sustainable world has been embraced by the global One Health Commission (OHC) in association with the One Health Initiative (OHI). Envisioning a program that provides funding for national and global One Health-themed educational projects, One Health leaders - in collaboration with partners - call for collective action by legislators, public / private educators, and public health professionals to support the development and implementation of progressive and comprehensive global One Health learning opportunities. One Health (and well-being) projects led by teachers who want to make a difference could begin in primary/secondary schools and extend through graduate and professional education. The overall intent of the concept paper is to raise awareness about the urgent need for the development  and to explore the concept further through a small pre-project proposal conference  (possibly off and/or on-line) with a view to fleshing out a strong plan to fund the envisioned global learning program. ...

Acknowledgement:

This commentary was first published in the South Eastern Journal of Public Health, Volume VI, 2016

Permission granted to re-publish in other journals by the exec editor:

Prof. Dr. med. Ulrich Laaser DTM&H, MPH

Section of International Public Health (S-IPH)

Faculty of Health Sciences

University of Bielefeld

POB 10 01 31

D-33501 Bielefeld

E-mail: ulrich.laaser@uni-bielefeld.de; laaseru@gmail.com

Website: https://branded.me/ulrich-laaser/

SEEJPH: www.seejph.com

On Facebook: www.facebook.com/ulrich.laaser.9

On Twitter: @laaseru

On Skype: laaseru

http://www.seejph.com/index.php/seejph/article/view/122

Note:  Drs. Lueddeke http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/publications/221215%20GL%20Short%20Bio.pdf, Kaufmann, Kahn, Krecek, Willingham, Stroud, Kaplan, Conti, Monath and Woodall are recognized international leaders in the One Health movement.

WONCA (Physicians at Global Family Doctors’ Newsletter) E-Update 3 JUNE 2016 Highlight “ONE HEALTH DAY”

Global “One Health Day” – 3rd November
One Health is a movement to forge co-equal, all-inclusive collaborations, in both research and applied sciences, between human and veterinary medical healthcare providers, social scientists, dentists, nurses, agriculturalists and food producers, wildlife and environmental health specialists and many other related disciplines. On November 3 [2016], individuals and groups from around the world, from academic to corporate & non-profit, students to established professionals, will have the opportunity to implement One Health projects and special events under the auspices of “One Health Day.” Projects will highlight the benefits of a One Health transdisciplinary approach towards solving today’s critical global-planetary health challenges.

Note: WONCA previously included notice of the planned event on their website May 27, 2016 http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/publications.php?query=NOTICE+Posted+about+Global+%93One+Health+Day%94+by+WONCA+News.

A One Health issue...

Yellow fever still spreading in Luanda, Angola

By *Jack Woodall, PhD – Provided to One Health Initiative website May 27, 2016

As of 25 May 2016, Angola has reported 2536 suspected cases of yellow fever with 301 deaths. Among those cases, 747 have been laboratory confirmed.  This is 33% more cases in the week since the previous World Health Organization (WHO) update of 20 May, a significant increase.  Despite vaccination campaigns in Luanda, Huambo and Benguela provinces, circulation of the virus persists in some districts. Vaccination campaigns started on 16 May in Cuanza Sul, Huila and Uige provinces (after the disease spread there weeks ago). Lunda Norte has reported, for the first time since the beginning of the outbreak, 5 autochthonous laboratory confirmed cases in 2 districts.1

Nobody is going to see why yellow fever is a global threat when that relatively small number of cases and deaths is perpetuated by the media.  Ignored since March is a report from WHO expert Sergio Yactayo after a visit to Angola that the official statistics were an undercount by a factor of 10, so that at that early stage there were already thousands of cases and hundreds of deaths.2

Nevertheless, it is of considerable concern that after nearly 3 months of trying, Angola has not yet succeeded in vaccinating the whole of the capital district of Luanda, and used up 17 million doses of scarce vaccine. 

On 16 April 2016 a group of yellow fever experts headed by international vaccine expert **Thomas Monath [MD] published an article in Lancet online calling for use of a one-fifth dose of the vaccine to expand a five-dose vial to protect 25 people instead of only five.3   They reference two independent papers published in 2013, backed up by a modeling paper published this month (May) online, which have shown that a one-fifth dose is still protective for adults.  Angola received 11.7 million doses of yellow fever vaccine on 18 May to supplement its ongoing campaigns. But this could be expanded to more than 58 million if the one-fifth dose were to be authorized now.

WHO has some legitimate concerns about the protective effect of the lower dose for children, and the Wellcome Trust is willing to fund a field test to confirm this, but waiting for its execution and evaluation will take months, during which full-strength vaccine will be irrevocably used up, perhaps unnecessarily.  It should be borne in mind that half the population of Angola is under 15 years old (UNICEF’s definition of a child) and many will have already been immunized against yellow fever during the last 10 years through the Angola national EPI program, so that a lower dose would at the least boost their immunity.  For those who missed their EPI dose it would very probably give them sufficient immunity to protect them from fatal infection.

WHO has the authority to declare an EUAL (Emergency Use Assessment and Listing) allowing use of that lower dose, even without declaring a PHEIC (public health emergency of international concern) -- which, on the advice of an expert committee meeting on 19 May, it has decided not to do.  Instead, WHO has commissioned a White Paper on vaccine sparing, postponing a decision until June or later, which means more full-strength vaccine irrevocably used up every day. 

WHO expects manufacturers to produce a few million more doses by August, but unless they start conserving vaccine now by lowering the dose, it will be too late to take full advantage of it.

 Doesn’t anybody see that there is a vaccine emergency, even if there isn’t a public health emergency?

1.     WHO Situation Report Yellow Fever 26 May 2016 http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/207328/1/yellowfeversitrep_26May2016_eng.pdf?ua=1 Accessed 27 May 2016

2.     Voice of America Vaccinations Needed to Stop Yellow Fever Outbreak in Angola 18 Mar 2016 Accessed 27 May 2016 http://www.voanews.com/content/measures-needed-to-stop-spread-of-yellow-fever-from-angola/3243747.html  Accessed 27 May 2016

3.     Monath, TP, Woodall JP, et al. Lancet. Yellow fever vaccine supply: a possible solution. 2016 Apr 16; 387(10028):1599-600. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30195-7. Epub 2016 Apr 14.  Accessed 27 May 2016

*Dr. Woodall is a co-founder of ProMED-mail and a former member of the One Health Initiative team

**Dr. Monath is a co-founder member of the One Health Initiative team

A significant One Health approach...

Preparing Society to Create the World We Need through One Health Education

Concept Paper – Please see attached PDF http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/publications/25.05.16%20One%20Health%20Concept%20Paper.pdf or http://goo.gl/bx7Ti5

This proposed One Health education initiative focuses on "the development and implementation of progressive and comprehensive global One Health learning opportunities beginning in K-12 and extending through graduate and professional education." 

To this end, the One Health Commission www.onehealthcommission.org in association with the One Health Initiative Autonomous pro bono team www.onehealthinitiative.com has jointly established a One Health Education Task Force with two main aims: 

• to develop a scoping and concept paper to underpin a proposed education project (please see attached/ ref #9);
• to identify organizations which might be interested in helping to clarify project aims, objectives and strategies in order to shape the project proposal at a future proposal development conference. 

A One Health oriented conference...

The James Steele Conference on Diseases in Nature Transmissible to Man (DIN) - May 25-27, 2016

SEE: https://sites.google.com/site/diseasesinnature/

Dedicated to improving the public health through a better understanding of Zoonoses and environmentally-acquired infectious diseases.

‘One Health Global Think-Tank for Sustainable Health & Well-being’:

Laaser U, Lueddeke G, Nurse J. The One Health Global Think Tank for Sustainable Health & Well-Being – 2030 (GHW-2030 (Short Report). SEEJPH 2016, posted: 19 April 2016. DOI 10.4119/UNIBI/SEEJPH-2016- 114 1

Editorial comment

Launch of the ‘One Health Global Think-Tank for Sustainable Health & Well-being’ – 2030 (GHW-2030)

The adoption of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the UN General Assembly in September 2015 opens a new era for global, regional, national and local initiatives to ensure the well-being and sustainability of the planet and people (1). The South Eastern European Journal of Public Health (SEEJPH) published several papers (Volumes 2,3,5) on the UN Global Goals (2, 3, 4). In addition, Prof Ulrich Laaser and Prof Vesna Bjegovic Mikanovic established together with Dr George Lueddeke a global think-tank on „Global Health, Governance, and Education‟ (5) to help inform the writing of the Epilogue of Dr Lueddeke‟s recent book entitled Global Population Health and Well-Being in the 21st Century – Towards New Paradigms, Policy, and Practice (6). In continuation of this process we worked with Dr. Joanna Nurse, head of the Commonwealth* Secretariat Health and Education Unit (HEU) (7, 8) and collectively founded the One Health Global Think Tank for Sustainable Health & Well-being – 2030‟ (GHW-2030).

A synopsis of the think-tank’s remit and membership is set out below. The summary is followed by a background paper outlining the GHW-2030 rationales, particularly in light of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (9), and the pressing need to incorporate holistic One World, One Health values, principles and practice (10, 11) - as these relate to environmental, social, economic and geopolitical spheres - with a view to guiding associated frameworks (12, 13), policies and enabling strategies. A listing of current GHW-2030 members and affiliations is also provided.

For the GHW-2030,

April 2016

Professor Ulrich Laaser, International Public Health, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany (ulrich.laaser@uni-ielefeld.de)

*Dr George Lueddeke, Think-tank Convenor/Chair; Southampton, United Kingdom (glueddeke@aol.com)

Dr Joanna Nurse, Head, *Commonwealth Secretariat Health and  Secretariat Health and Education Unit (HEU), London, United Kingdom (j.nurse@commonwealth.int)

 * The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 53 independent and equal sovereign states. It is home to 2.2 billion citizens, of which over 60% are under the age of 30” (7).

See: http://www.seejph.com/index.php/seejph/article/view/114/87 and Download the PDF file.

__________________________________________________________

*NOTE: Dr. George Lueddeke [PhD] is expected to be giving the introductory keynote speech titled, 'Optimizing Global Population Health and Well-Being through the UN 2030 Global Goals and the One Health Approach' at the World Veterinary Association - World Medical Association (WVA/WMA) One Health Conference on November 10^th  and 11^th , 2016 in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.  The WVA/WMA conference will be in cooperation with the Japan Medical / Veterinary Medical Associations who are helping to organize the Second Global One Health Conference entitled Moving forward from One Health Concept to One Health Approach.  See: http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/publications/STD%202%20GCOH.pdf. 

Dr. Lueddeke is also author of the recently published One Health book “Global Population Health and Well-Being in the 21^st Century” http://www.springerpub.com/global-population-health-and-well-being-in-the-21st-century-toward-new-paradigms-policy-and-practice.html and is noted in the One Health Initiative Supporter list http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/supporters.php.

“The World Veterinary Association & World Medical Association recognizes the increasing importance of One Health in terms of sustaining the planet and people globally...”

Subject: Register Today for St. George University's [Grenada, West Indies] Exciting One Health One Medicine Open Access Online Course

Reply-To: sguenrolment@sgu.edu 

Provided by:

Satesh Bidaisee, DVM, MSPH, EdD, CPH, MRSB, FRSPH, FRSTMH

Associate Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine

Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies

St. George's University

Address: University Centre, Grenada, West Indies

Telephone: 473-439-2000 ext. 3527

Email: sbidaisee@sgu.edu

Skype: satesh.bidaisee

Fax: 473-444-1219

Website: http://www.sgu.edu/research/research-investigators-bidaisee.html