From "One Health" to "Transversal Health"

On this World Health Day, and almost two years after the onset of the pandemic, the global health ecosystem has demonstrated an exceptional responsiveness in vaccines, and health products, in the fastest time in its history.

However, it is becoming valuable - indeed imperative - that it also demonstrates such a response to climate, energy and geopolitical challenges. If concepts such as the one promoted by the WHO of a "One health", mixing human, animal and environmental health, are a direction to follow, it is vital to go even further, towards a "Transversal health".

Indeed, the climate challenges might severely impact on collective and individual health, but also on food production. The convergence of the health and agri-food ecosystems, which has already begun, will be necessary to provide the best sources of food that are most resistant to climate hazards.

Moreover, energy challenges, such as the one created by the Russian war against Ukraine, raise the question not only of our energy dependence on fossil fuels, but also of their importance as raw materials themselves. Few people know that paracetamol is produced from oil by-products!

Finally, geopolitical challenges. The risks of drug shortages created by highly delocalised production or contexts such as BREXIT underline the importance of pharmaceutical sovereignty. The digitalisation of health, with the rise of connected medical devices and robotics, will undoubtedly make digital sovereignty in health one of the priorities of the ecosystem.

In this context, public and private players still operate too much in silos. It is therefore urgent to create new bridges in order to allow the emergence of a "proactive" transversal ecosystem, which protects the health of citizens, and not "reactive" in the face of risks that are now known to be inevitable. And what if Africa, a promising continent but highly exposed to these challenges, were the living laboratory of the "Transversal health" approach?

#Transversalhealth #futureofhealth #onehealth #noplanetb

Article originally published on Apr. 7th 2022 in French for the Alchemists Network "De la Santé Unique à la Santé Transversale".