Primena koncepta "Jedno zdravlje" - šanse i prednosti

Abstract

Nearly two-thirds of human pathogens come from domestic and wild animals, known as zoonoses. Many diseases pose a risk to public health around the world and it is therefore imperative that these diseases be eradicated locally and globally. The concept of "One Health" is based on awareness of the need to protect public health, acting primarily on the prevention and control of pathogens within human and animal populations in the environment in which they live. The concept of "One Health" began to be applied after the signing of a joint document between the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organization for Animal Health (RES) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This document sets out mutual responsibilities and goals in this area. From the very beginning, the priority topics for joint action were: the rabies virus, which kills over 59,000 people a year, and other zoonotic viruses such as bird flu. Antimicrobial resistance is one of the first priorities. All necessary activities of experts in the field of animal health, public health and the environment should be implemented at the local, national and global levels. This should contribute to the continuous and simultaneous improvement of public health, animal health and environmental protection worldwide. The most efficient and economical solution for human protection is the fight against all zoonotic pathogens in the animal population. This requires a strategic approach, organization, management and control with adequate investment of financial resources and engagement of available human and material resources from both the public and private sectors. This means establishing new mechanisms for mutual information and synchronized joint action. Pathogens that are not zoonoses, but have an indirect negative impact on health, food production and the environment, should certainly be taken into account. All three international organizations publish standards and recommendations on how to act in certain circumstances that are helpful to the competent decision-making institutions.Despite the fact that the concept of "One Health" was established a few decades ago, there is no change in policy in this regard. Very few countries have adopted a strategy based on the concept of "One Health", i.e. some countries have done very little while a huge number of countries have done nothing. All this can be explained by the appearance of the COVID 19 pandemic, which has been going on for more than two years, with many unclear situations such as the origin of the virus, mutations, diagnostics and vaccinations. It is a devastating fact that the involvement of veterinary institutions during the pandemic period was quite unnoticed. In some countries, commissions or ad-hoc working groups on zonoses have been established, but there has been no systematic approach to the concept of "One Health". This paper presents different experiences of individual countries in the occurrence of certain diseases such as COVID 19, rabies and bird flu in the region, as well as experiences in the control of antimicrobial resistance. The aim of this paper is to point out the advantages and opportunities in the application of the concept of "One Health", the good and bad experiences at the local, regional and global levels.