Focus on Reducing Animal and Plant and Soil diseases to improve One Health and food security

One Health is an integrated approach that aims to sustainably optimize the health of people, animals, plants and ecosystems. Microbes continuously adapt, change, and find new niches with increasingly unique opportunities to cross species lines, resulting in emerging and re-emerging diseases of humans, animals and plants. Increased movement and intermingling of humans and animals also contribute to health risks, spread of disease and incidence of zoonotic diseases. The world population is currently estimated to be 8 billion and expected to reach 9.8 billion in 2050. Each year approximately 80 billion animals are slaughtered for meat, 9.4 billion tons of crops are produced, and 33 percent of croplands are used for livestock feed production. It is also estimated that 820 million people, globally, suffer food insecurity and are undernourished. This can be increased by threats to crop, soil, animal and human health. Action must therefore be taken to improve and protect food security. Proactive measures for disease prevention such as vaccine development, disease surveillance and early detection will strengthen defenses against disease. In addition, training, capacity building, material and information sharing and timeous disease occurrence reporting will assist in assuring a successful One Health approach to ensure food security. Thus this One Health topic is in alignment with two sustainable development goals (SDG) of Zero hunger (SDG 2) and Good health and well-being (SDG 3).

This session will showcase the contributions of the ARC and international delegates towards One Health to improv food security. A panel discussion will follow on future prospects for improving One Health with regards to good health and food security.