'One Health' proposes the unification of the medical and veterinary professions with the establishment of collaborative ventures in clinical care, surveillance and control of cross-species disease, education and research into disease pathogenesis, diagnosis, therapy and vaccination. The concept encompasses the human population, domestic animals and wildlife and the impact that environmental changes ('environmental health') such as global warming will have on these populations.

The WSAVA One Health Committee (OHC) was established in late 2010 and presents an exciting initiative in which the Association has assumed a global leadership role in the inclusion of small companion animals in the International One Health arena. The WSAVA OHC comprises a group of international academic experts in companion animal zoonotic infectious disease and comparative research and includes representation from the WSAVA Executive Board and general practitioner input.

The members of the committee are:

 Prof Michael J. Day, University of Bristol, UK [Chairman]

 Dr Sarah Cleaveland, University of Glasgow, UK

 Dr Umesh Karkare, General Practitioner, India

 Prof Chand Khanna, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA

 Prof Jolle Kirpensteijn, Utrecht University, The Netherlands (WSAVA Board)

 Prof Michael Lappin, Colorado State University, USA

 Prof Clarisa Palatnik-de-Sousa, Federal University of Rio de Janiero, Brazil

 Dr Carol Rubin, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, USA

 Dr Alex Thiermann, World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), France

And affiliate members of the committee include:

 Prof Ed Breitschwerdt, North Carolina State University, USA

 Prof Thijs Kuiken, Erasmus Medical Centre, The Netherlands

 Dr Jennifer McQuiston, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA

Uniquely, the work of the OHC is supported by a consortium of industry sponsors who have each agreed to make an annual contribution over the 3-year life of the committee. The work of the OHC focuses in three areas of One Health:

 Companion animal zoonotic infectious diseases

 Promotion of comparative and translational research

 The societal importance of the human-companion animal bond

The committee held its inaugural meeting in advance of the NAVC Congress in Orlando in January 2011. A second meeting is scheduled to take place at the headquarters of the CDC in Atlanta, USA in November 2011 and the third meeting will occur in advance of the 2012 WSAVA Congress in Birmingham.

The OHC has already had several major achievements which have raised the global profile of small companion animals within the One Health arena. In February 2011, two papers were delivered at the First International One Health Conference in Melbourne, Australia.

In May 2011, representatives of the OHC were invited to attend the 79th Annual General Session of the OIE in Paris. During that conference, WSAVA and OIE signed a formal memorandum of agreement by which WSAVA will have a prominent role in OIE deliberations on matters related to companion animals. The association now has official 'observer status' at the OIE General Session - being one of only two Associations (the other is the World Veterinary Association) to have this role.

During 2011, OHC members also visited Geneva to meet with the World Health Organization (WHO). The veterinary team within WHO is now engaged with our programme and we hope to be able to formalise this arrangement in the future. We have also had preliminary contact with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, which is another major player in the One Health field. The OHC has also engaged with others active in the One Health arena including the US One Health Commission and the US One Health Initiative.

Other outcomes from the committee include:

 Establishment of a WSAVA OHC website (accessible via the WSAVA website)

 Establishment of a WSAVA OHC Facebook page

 Establishment of the WSAVA Global One Health Award for an individual or organisation who has promoted the global One Health Concept and, in particular, has highlighted an aspect of small companion animal relevance to the One Health Agenda. The inaugural award was made to the OIE on the occasion of the 2011 WSAVA Congress in Korea and the second award is to be made during the current Congress

 Establishment of the WSAVA One Health Prize for an abstract or poster presented at the annual congress that epitomises the One Health message

 Work commenced on formulation of simple One Health guidelines for zoonotic disease control for veterinary practitioners

 Work commenced on a major position paper on the need for global surveillance of companion animal zoonotic infections as part of the One Health platform

 One Health lectures delivered in Geneva, Utrecht and Lisbon

A further exciting venture has been the involvement of the WSAVA OHC in the application to the European Union for major funding for the CALLISTO project (Companion Animals multisectoriaL interprofessionaL and Interdisciplinary Strategic Think tank On zoonoses). This 3-year project, coordinated by the Federation of Veterinarians in Europe (FVE), will bring together scientific expertise in the full range of companion animal zoonoses to assess the current European situation and to advise on a way forward for surveillance and control of these infections within the EU member states. The WSAVA OHC is one of eight full partners in this project and has the important role of coordinating the final written outcomes from three annual overarching meetings of the consortium subgroups. The project is due to commence in January 2012 with a budget of almost 1 million Euros.

It is clear that going forward, the work of the WSAVA OHC will considerably raise the profile of small companion animals - particularly in political and scientific forums that may not necessarily have considered the importance of this sector in the past.

References

1.  Day MJ. One health: the small companion animal dimension. Veterinary Record 2010;167:847–849.

2.  Day MJ. One Health: the importance of companion animal vector-borne diseases. Parasites and Vectors 2011;4:49.

3.  Day MJ, Sheahan D, et al. The WSAVA One Health Committee: promoting comparative clinical research–the value of the companion animal model. 1st International One Health Conference, Melbourne 2011.

4.  Day MJ, Sheahan D, et al. The WSAVA One Health Committee: positioning companion animals in global infectious disease surveillance. 1st International One Health Conference, Melbourne 2011.

5.  Palatnik-de-Sousa CB, Day MJ. One Health-One Medicine: the global challenge of epidemic and endemic leishmaniosis. Parasites and Vectors 2011;4:197.