World Environment Day 2022: Dr Rebecca Gang on One Health and solving ‘wicked problems’.

Saturday 5 June 2022 is World Environment Day. All around the planet, people will be thinking about and celebrating the nature we are so grateful to have. Australia has a natural environment like no other, and Australian vets play a vital role. That thinking is at the heart of One Health, a concept that recognises that the health of humans, animals and the environment are all unified and interconnected.

Support for the One Health concept has grown in recent years, and earlier this year the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) joined the alliance that already included the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

One of the strongest champions of One Health in Australia is Dr Rebecca Gang, the president of the Australian Veterinarians in Public Health, one the AVA’s Special Interest Groups.

We caught up with Dr Gang to talk about her work and One Health, wicked problems and what it could mean for the incoming federal government. “We need to come together and collaborate to be more sustainable in our treatment of this Earth,” said Gang.

What is your day job?

I'm a vet who works in human public health. Although I work in immunisation, which is an area that is very human health focussed, I bring a different lens to my work. I try to foster understanding and collaboration between different disciplines. My work involves using many skills I learnt as a clinician - creative problem solving, multi-tasking and relationship building. 

What is OneHealth?

One Health is based on the understanding that animal, human and environmental health and well-being are inextricably connected. It calls for a transdisciplinary approach. That is to say that disciplines move beyond just collaborating to work together in a more holistic, systems-based way. Traditional silos are removed to optimise animal, human, plant and eco-system health. 

I've been interested in OH since I was in vet school and have been actively seeking a better understanding of what I can do to further OH in Australia. I have previously been involved in OH- based research and teaching. Currently I am using my work as president of the AVPH Special Interest Group to advocate for a formal implementation of OH frameworks into Australian public health structures.

Why is One Health important in Australia?

It is only through a OH approach that we can balance health outcomes for not only animals and humans, but also plants and ecosystems. Without considering the environments that we all share, we can't find holistic solutions to challenges. In Australia we have strong individual sectors and some wonderful OH organisations and informal relationships. What we lack is formal OH frameworks that promote the breaking down of silos and underpins multi- and transdisciplinary work.

The incoming federal government made an election commitment to form an Australian Centre for Disease Control. This is the perfect opportunity to entrench a OH approach in Australia by engaging with not only the public health sector but also incorporating animal, wildlife and environmental health from the very start. A lead agency incorporating OH would put Australia in a strong position to deal with many of the challenges facing our collective health and well-being. 

What can we do to help?

We see the challenges facing our environment and communities every day - from increasing natural disasters and changes in global and local disease patterns from climate change to threats to our planet due to our unsustainable use of it. Climate change, antimicrobial resistance and food security are other examples of complex and interconnected issues (so called ‘wicked problems’) currently facing us that impact all parts of this world. The increasing risk of emerging infectious diseases due to changing climates and human encroachment on wildlife and disruption of ecosystems has been brought sharply into focus with the emergence of Japanese Encephalitis in Australia and the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. These problems cannot be solved or mitigated without considering the world and its inhabitants as a whole. 

The theme for this Environment Day is "We have only one Earth. Let's take care of it" and that is the crux of it. We need to come together and collaborate to be more sustainable in our treatment of this Earth. We need to recognise that it will take a transdisciplinary approach to solve the wicked problems facing the health of humans, animals and plants and the environments in which they live. As individuals we should engage with organisations doing wonderful work on climate action and other issues and to live as sustainably as possible. And as a vet profession we should be working with our colleagues across disciplines by sharing our knowledge and skills and listening deeply to the expertise of others.