Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Sep-Oct;137(5):964-971.
doi: 10.1177/00333549211047234. Epub 2021 Sep 21.

Assessment of One Health Knowledge, Animal Welfare Implications, and Emergency Preparedness Considerations for Effective Public Health Response

Linda C Pimentel  1 , Alicia C May  2 , John K Iskander  3 , Ronald E Banks  4 , John D Gibbins  5
Affiliations

Assessment of One Health Knowledge, Animal Welfare Implications, and Emergency Preparedness Considerations for Effective Public Health Response

Linda C Pimentel et al. Public Health Rep. 2022 Sep-Oct.

Abstract

Objectives: Information on knowledge of public health professionals about health aspects of the human-animal interface, referred to as One Health, is limited. The objective of this study was to identify factors associated with animal welfare attitudes, practices, and One Health awareness among US Public Health Service (USPHS) officers to assess preparedness for public health response.

Methods: USPHS officers participated in an online, self-administered survey from February 15 through March 2, 2018. A total of 1133 of 6474 (17.5%) USPHS officers responded. We collected information on officers' demographic characteristics, animal welfare attitudes and practices, volunteer and work exposure to animals, and One Health knowledge. We compared (1) One Health knowledge and animal work exposure (deployment, regular assignment, or none) and (2) animal welfare importance and animal work exposure. To adjust for demographic characteristics associated with One Health knowledge, we used multivariable logistic regression.

Results: One-third of nonveterinary officers reported encountering animals during deployment, and 65% reported that animal welfare was very or extremely important. We found no difference in One Health knowledge between nonveterinary officers who participated in deployments involving animals and nonveterinary officers who had no work exposure to animals (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.11; 95% CI, 0.71-1.75). Nonveterinary officers who participated in animal-related public health activities during regular assignment were more likely to have One Health knowledge than nonveterinary officers who had no work exposure to animals (aOR = 7.88; 95% CI, 5.36-11.59).

Conclusions: One Health knowledge and awareness should be further explored in the current US public health workforce to identify training needs for emergency preparedness and other collaborative opportunities.

Keywords: emergency preparedness; mental health and well-being; public health practice; training; veterinary public health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. De Paula Vieira A., Anthony R. Recalibrating veterinary medicine through animal welfare science and ethics for the 2020s. Animals. 2020;10(4):654.10.3390/ani10040654 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lobo D., DeBenedet C., Fehlner-Gardiner C. et al.. Raccoon rabies outbreak in Hamilton, Ontario: a progress report. Can Commun Dis Rep. 2018;44(5):116-121.10.14745/ccdr.v44i05a05 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . One Health. Accessed September 4, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/basics/index.html
    1. World Health Organization . One Health. Published September 21, 2017. Accessed August 24, 2020. https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/one-health
    1. Smith JW., le Gall F., Stephenson S. et al.. People, Pathogens and Our Planet: The Economics of One Health. Volume 2. The World Bank; 2012.

LinkOut - more resources