Integrated approach to a healthy living environment: One Health and Planetary Health
It is becoming increasingly clear that the health of people, animals and the planet constantly influence one another. But how can research, policy and practice address such a complex issue? We fund research and bring stakeholders together to develop an integrated approach to health.
One Health: people, animals and the environment
Many of the research projects we fund, for example on infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance, are based on a One Health approach. The aim of the One Health approach is to create a healthy ecosystem of which humans, animals and the environment form part. By pooling knowledge and experience from specific fields, together they achieve more than the sum of what each field can achieve on its own. Read more about this in the interview (in Dutch) with Merel Langelaar, member of the ZonMw Infectious Diseases & Antimicrobial Resistance programme committee.
There are also various partnerships, both national and international, in the fields of policy, research and practice, in which different disciplines collaborate. ZonMw participates in, among others, the European One Health AMR Partnership and the Knowledge Platform for Livestock Farming and Human Health.
Planetary Health: global changes and human health
A Planetary Health approach links the state of various natural systems on Earth to human health. The advisory report Planetary Health. An emerging field to be developed (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences KNAW, 2023) contains an inventory of the scientific knowledge required to better understand that connection and to be able to take action. The advisory report translates this international topic to the Dutch context and sets the agenda. We have provided input and, where possible, are incorporating Planetary Health into our existing and new research programmes.
What do we do?
We fund research into Planetary Health through the ‘Building blocks for integrated policy on Planetary Health’ grant programme, which we run together with the Dutch Research Council (NWO). In addition, we bring together research, policy and practice to develop an integrated approach to health addressing issues such as infectious disease, antimicrobial resistance, nutrition, climate change, a healthy living environment, and microplastics.