While a lot of people dread networking events, Annemarie Rebel from the Netherlands Centre for One Health (NCOH) is always excited at the opportunity to connect with others. “Even though we’ve discovered so much over the past years about the effects of human, animal and environmental health on infectious diseases, there’s always something to learn”, she says. “And it’s wonderful to see new connections being made in this field.” This is how NCOH brings together academic research institutes in the Netherlands that are active in One Health research with other leading parties.
Image: © NCOH / Lize Kraan
Controlling and preventing infectious disease outbreaks
In 2007, an unprecedented number of people in the Netherlands became infected with the Q fever bacterium Coxiella burnetii. It was the start of what we now call the Q fever outbreak. Some of the people infected developed chronic Q fever. About half of them developed complications, such as heart failure or a ruptured aorta. Because of the issues that posed a threat to human and animal health 10 years ago, Utrecht University, Wageningen University & Research and Erasmus MC decided to collaborate with the most important goals being: building connections, exchanging expertise, and developing integrated (boundary crossing) knowledge. Multiple universities, academic hospitals en research organisations joined later on and the centre to tackle the global risk of infectious diseases was born: the Netherlands Centre for One Health (NCOH).
Rebel, who is also director of Wageningen Bioveterinary Research and Professor Healthy Resilient Livestock at Wageningen University & Research, about what NCOH’s mission means and how they define One Health: “We face many challenges concerning health and environmental issues with regard to infectious diseases that affect daily life. NCOH commits to create durable solutions for this major challenge by bundling world-leading academic top research in the Netherlands in the area of One Health. Our dream is to build a world where humans, animals and nature live in balance. Not just to control infectious disease outbreaks, but to prevent them as well.”
At the interface of human, animal and environmental health
One Health is essentially an integrated and unifying approach that recognises that the health of people is closely connected to the health of animals and our shared environment. It aims to sustainably balance and optimise the health of people, animals and ecosystems. “These three different aspects used to be quite separate from each other in research”, Rebel explains. “But these past years have shown that they are more intertwined with each other. Our focus is to research what happens at the interface and how we can use that knowledge to prepare society for an outbreak of an infectious disease.”
The four research themes of NCOH are tackling antimicrobial resistance, emerging infectious diseases preparedness, smart and healthy farming, and healthy wildlife and ecosystems. Together, they focus on studying the interactions and connections between human, veterinary, wildlife and environmental health. NCOH initiates several research projects, hosts a platform to enable discussion and knowledge exchange, and shares the One Health message nationally and internationally through their website, newsletters, social media and events.
"There’s more than just human health. One Health approach is essential for effective global health strategies."
Working together interdisciplinary
One Health is part of global health, if you ask Rebel. “There is more than just human health. We can influence other areas like animal health and environmental health, but those areas are not able to do that to human health. That’s why it’s important to think about the consequences for different areas when you make certain choices concerning health.”
Another important focus for NCOH is working together interdisciplinary. “By pushing a button on one side, you have to know what happens on other side”, Rebel says. “We don’t fancy ourselves as being able to solve everything with this approach, but we do think it is integral to choosing a strategy in global health.” Rebel points out NCOH’s approach of connecting different areas has already brought them wonderful results. They’ve done research on diagnostic tools, such as using metagenomics, new diseases and an analysis of the process when a new disease surfaces for example. “For instance, our research also allowed us to determine if the corona virus could be transmitted from minks to humans”, she adds.
Sharing and developing knowledge
NCOH hopes to share this knowledge on infectious diseases, including factors on the human, animal and environmental side and the interaction between these three with the Global Health Hub the Netherlands. In addition, NCOH has a network for PhD students and post-docs, Young NCOH. The aim is to share and develop knowledge and expertise in One Health related disciplines and to incorporate the perspective of young researchers.
It’s been ten years since the start of NCOH, and even though there are still a lot of questions, Rebel feels hopeful that universities still acknowledge the importance of working together within the NCOH on this important topic and new mission. “Hopefully, the impact will be seen on the long and short term as well.”
Get in touch
Want to know more about NCOH? Visit their website. Do you have an idea for a new collaboration with NCOH, or would you simply like to get acquainted sometime soon? Contact the NCOH secretary via info@ncoh.nl.