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One Health is an important, and oft overlooked, concept

STONEY CREEK, Ont. — There have been many lessons to learn throughout this COVID-19 pandemic.

But perhaps one of the most important lessons, and one that is rarely talked about, is the importance of the concept of One Health — the relationship between human health, animal health and the environment in regards to health and disease.

“The health of people, animals — domesticated and wild — and our planet are inextricably linked,” says Dr. Lucas Pantaleon, Special Advisor of Veterinary Health for Ogena Solutions. “When we are talking about infection control, food security, pandemics, One Health should be top of mind to inspire collaboration and cooperation across disciplines.”

One Health is a holistic approach to health and wellness, and is particularly important in an age when we are seemingly seeing an increase in disease and viruses passing between animals and humans. While COVID-19 is currently top of mind — and is a virus that passed from animals to humans — we have also seen the spread of viruses like influenza, West Nile and Zika and diseases such as rabies, lyme and ebola from animals to people.

The challenge is the collaborative piece. When thousands of people are falling ill from a virus, attention turns to the health-care community. But there are valuable inputs to be had from veterinarians, or wildlife experts. This kind of collaborative approach is key to ensuring a healthy animal population, which by extension protects the people who either live in proximity to those animals or rely on them for protein in their diets.

“While it is important, we have a lot of work to do on One Health,” says Dr. Pantaleon. “The veterinary community has embraced the concept, but we need to do a better job engaging the medical community, environmentalists and even farmers. As keepers of the livestock, it is vitally important that farmers not only understand the concept of One health, but are active participants in it.”

Ogena Solutions specializes in biosecurity in animal shelters, veterinary settings and farms.

For more information, please visit ogenasolutions.com. Follow Ogena Solutions on Twitter @OgenaSolutions and Facebook at /OgenaSolutions.

About Ogena Solutions:

Ogena Solutions, was formed from the company Anivac Corporation which was created in Canada in 2005. Ogena (pronounced “O-Jenna”) Solutions is dedicated to providing complete effective, environmentally friendly bio-security solutions, equipment and protocols as well as ground breaking (patented) animal bathing systems. It currently operates in the animal health sector including shelters, veterinary, pet boarding and daycare, food animal and general farm applications. Bio-security, green technologies and leading edge bathing systems are central to the company’s product focus.  Ogena’s equipment, products and matching usage protocols are respected as being the best and most efficient products available in animal health today.