What is One Health?
LtoR Prof Helen Roche, Dr Tony Holohan, UCD President Prof Orla Feely, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge WHO, Prof Cecily kelleher Principal College of Health & Agricultural Sciences.
The World Health Organization Defines One Health as 'an approach to designing and implementing programmes, policies, legislation and research in which multiple sectors communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes'. While such a collaborative approach is useful when addressing many complex problems, it is absolutely essential when tackling threats to public health that exist at the human, animal and environment interface such as antimicrobial resistance, control of zoonotic disease and food safety and security.
The philosophy of One Health is fundamental to how UCD operates - it promotes the core idea that problems can only be solved by using multi-disciplinary teams that are solution focused and use their diversity of thought as a strength. We aim to solve problems and drive innovations that benefit not only human health but also animal health and the environment.
UCD is uniquely positioned in Ireland for One Health research. It is home to the only School of Veterinary Medicine on the island of Ireland and is located on the same campus as the School of Medicine and School of Agriculture and Food Science under the overarching College of Health and Agricultural Sciences. The College was established in 2015 to bring UCD's health and professionals and agricultural scientists together to exploit synergies and opportunities which exist across the One Health specturm.
Read more about the Vision, Mission and Strategic Objectives of UCD's College of Health and Agricultural Sciences Watch here.
Learn more about the 2024 launch of the new UCD Centre for One Health Watch here