Category: One Health
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Using a One Health lens to strengthen epidemic preparedness systems
Syeda Tazrian Islam, Andrea Britton, Peter Black, and Babatunde Balogun Every 27 December, the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness encourages global reflection on how we build strong and resilient health systems. The 2025 theme, Strengthening Global Health Systems for Future Crises, is particularly relevant for Australia as the interim…
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Rabies spreading due to pandemic setbacks and US funding cuts, Americas conference told
Dr Andrea Britton, Syeda Islam, and Dr Alison Hoger The COVID-19 pandemic and the United States’ funding cuts to programs has affected rabies control efforts in the Americas, and meant the disease has reemerged in dogs in some countries for the first time in 25 years. These findings were among…
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Climate action can brighten our future
We’re calling on the next Australian Government to take sustained steps to protect the health and wellbeing of everyone in Australia, including acting on climate change. Find out more on the Public Health Association of Australia’s 2025 Election Priorities site. This is part of an ongoing series explaining our 2025…
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Rise in heatwaves and pressure on ambulance services
Mehak Oberai and Shannon Rutherford The increasing frequency of heatwaves in Australia has cast a light on the health impacts of extreme heat, and the subsequent burden placed on healthcare systems. Ambulance services, often the first entry point to the healthcare system for Australia, are one important indicator of the…
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City students learn about human and animal health in remote communities
Dr Jessica Hoopes, Dr Bonny Cumming, Dr John Hunter and Prof Michelle Power Undergraduate students from a university in northwestern Sydney are learning about human and animal health in remote and rural communities across northern and central Australia. The Macquarie University students have been studying One Health concepts – which…
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Remembering Dr Mike Nunn, a pioneering One Health advocate and mentor
Dr Andrea Britton, PHAA One Health Special Interest Group co-convenor It is with much loss and gratitude that we reflect on the One Health Special Interest Group founding member, Dr Mike Nunn. Sadly, he passed away in late May 2023. Co-founder of the SIG, Professor Martyn Jeggo, has shared his…
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World Veterinary Day 2023: what can Public Health Professionals learn?
Dr Babatunde Balogun, PHAA member and PhD candidate at the Australian Institute of Health Service Management, University of Tasmania. Since 2000, the World Veterinary Association (WVA) has earmarked the last Saturday of every April to celebrate the veterinary profession. Tagged the World Veterinary Day (WVD), the occasion is used to…
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Where is One Health systems thinking in the Australian CDC planning?
Dr Andrea Britton, Dr Sandra Steele and Associate Professor Simon Reid, PHAA One Health Special Interest Group (SIG) committee members PHAA’s One Health SIG members recognise the importance of multisectoral and transdisciplinary approaches, using systems thinking, to optimize health and well-being. This includes mitigation of wicked public health challenges such…
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“A Plea for Inclusion” in an Australian Centre(s) for Disease Control
Martyn Jeggo on behalf of the former Chief Veterinary Officers (CVOs) Group. The present government has committed to the establishment of a national Centre for Disease Control (CDC) or Centres for Disease Control (CDCs). However, it has not yet determined the level of commitment, the timelines, the exact nature…
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One Health alliance strengthened as Tripartite partnership becomes Quadripartite
Melanie Parker and Andrea Britton As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, concerns grow for the important issues placed on the proverbial ‘backburner’, such as antimicrobial resistance. There are also concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic has further driven antimicrobial resistance, with a number of reasons postulated, including higher antibiotic use, infection prevention…
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Rethinking traditional structures: a proposal for an Australian Distributed Network for Disease Prevention and Control
Jane Heller and Richard Heller We support many of the ideas that others have posted on the CDPC Corner about the development of an Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC), a pre-election commitment made by the Australian Labor Party. Our contribution builds on these previous submissions by calling for this…
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Expert to discuss framework for making food systems sustainable and healthy at PHAA conference
Introduction by Jeremy Lasek – PHAA At the PHAA’s upcoming Food Futures Conference, (16-17 March) a leading Australian expert, Professor Mark Lawrence, from Deakin University’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), will explore The Ecological Nutrition Conceptual Framework for promoting healthy and sustainable diets. Institute for Physical Health and…
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New study reveals the deadly global impact of antimicrobial resistance
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) “one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity”. The WHO states that, “Antimicrobials – including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics – are medicines used to prevent and treat infections in humans, animals and…
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Plastic pollution: why is it a public health problem and why Australia needs a plastic pollution policy
Dr Andrew Daltry, Dr Lea Merone, Dr Peter Tait, and Jeremy Lasek It was described as a ‘global pandemic’ long before COVID-19 rocked our world in early 2020. The so-called ‘plastic pandemic’ sees an estimated five trillion pieces of plastic in the world’s oceans right now and it can take…
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What’s in the WHO’s COP26 Special Report on Climate Change and Health?
Anna Alex – PHAA intern Leading up to COP26 in Glasgow next week, the World Health Organisation has released a special report, the Health Argument for Climate Action, outlining 10 recommendations made by the global health community for Heads of States to consider as priority areas and actionable points. The…
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“Gain of Function”: a poorly understood element of the Anthropocene
Colin D Butler When I proposed a short essay on “gain of function” (GoF) and its relevance to the Anthropocene (the human-dominated geological era) the theory that COVID-19 could have originated from a laboratory accident (or, less likely, was deliberately released) was still largely dismissed as a “conspiracy”. In recent weeks that…
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The pressure cooker environment – preventing the next pandemic
Andrea Britton Australian Public Health Conference 2020 One Health SIG webinar: The pressure cooker environment – preventing the next pandemic Presenters: Dr Peter Daszak, President, Ecohealth Alliance Associate Professor Lars Henning, Associate Professor for Communicable Disease Control and Tropical Medicine, James Cook University Queensland, and PHAA One Health SIG Committee …