Symposium 2

One Health is defined by the One Health Commission as “... a collaborative ... and trans-disciplinary approach, working locally, regionally, nationally, and globally, to achieve optimal health and well-being of all animals, people, plants and their shared environment, recognizing their inextricable interconnections.” The concept that the health of humans, animals and the environment are linked is not new, with similarities between animals and humans noted by Aristotle. However, according to the CDC, human and animal medicine were considered separate disciplines until the 20th century. Only in the last few years has it been recognized that the welfare of humans, animals and the environment are also connected, with the resulting use of the term, One Welfare. Examples of the linkage of these include: animal abuse is often linked to human abuse; improving animal welfare can improve urban social indicators; improved animal welfare enhances food safety; improved animal welfare increases farm productivity; improved wildlife welfare enhances biodiversity conservation; and improved research animal welfare enhances data reproducibility and validity. The One Welfare concept fosters the United Nations’ Sustainability Development Goals (UN SDGs) by building “economic growth and address[ing] a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities....” In this way, the One Welfare concept is connected to the Tokyo Declaration on Universal Health Coverage, which also supports the UN SDGs, and thus is of interest to the Japanese people. This presentation will describe One Welfare, including its place in biomedical research. The 66th Annual Meeting of Japanese Association for Laboratory Animal Science