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 03.12.2025

Our health depends on animal health and the state of the environment

The One Health concept is more relevant than ever. The idea advocates a holistic and unifying approach to optimising the health of people, animals and ecosystems by treating them as a whole, rather than separately.

Human health and animal health are interdependent, and at the same time, both depend on the environment.

In just a few months, our country has experienced important cases of animal diseases that, even when they are not zoonotic (people can’t be infected), they do have important economic effects, especially in specific geographical areas. At the end of October, there was an outbreak of bovine contagious nodular dermatosis (BCND), in mid-November, there was an outbreak of bird flu and at the end of November, African swine fever was detected in wild boars in Collserola.

The adoption of a One Health approach is becoming more and more pertinent. Approximately 60% of emerging infectious diseases in the world have their origin in animals. If we seek optimal health for people, we must think about animals and the planet.

More information.

Article prepared with information from P. Cañal-PCB Team.