The One Health approach: contributing to better human, animal and environmental health As the recent Covid-19 pandemic has confirmed, human health determinants are more than ever linked to animal and environmental health issues, both in the field of communicable and emerging diseases and through exposure to various chemical substances. To reduce these risks and be effective in a sustainable way, we need to work at the interface of these areas and propose innovative solutions. This is the ambition of the ‘One Health’ approach: to better understand these interactions, to put in place the capacities to identify, prevent and respond to these emerging issues in order to contribute to the resilience of populations and systems in the face of these challenges. Dr Serge Breysse, CEO of Solthis A first step in Senegal: how does this approach fit with the health projects run by Solthis? Solthis’ first ‘One Health’ project was developed in 2020 and was the fruit of a joint initiative with the NGO AVSF. The Thiellal project will be launched in 2021 in Senegal in the Kolda region in Haute Casamance. Through a multi-disciplinary approach, it aims to contribute to the empowerment of communities and local stakeholders to enable them to identify and act on the determinants of One Health with a view to agro-ecological transition and better health for people, animals and the environment. The project draws on Senegal’s success in the fight against zoonoses (diseases or infections which are transmitted from vertebrate animals to humans and vice versa) and particularly targets the use of “chemicals”, including pesticides and antibiotics, which represent a major issue for the region. Solthis and its partners now wish to increase understanding of the risks linked to the use of these products and contribute to better practices, limit the circulation of drugs leading to antibiotic resistance, improve cultivation practices by limiting pesticides while maintaining agricultural yields, limit pollution and the impact on the health of the area’s populations. Documenting, evaluating and capitalising on this innovative approach will be essential to help measure its impact and to identify good practices that could be shared. Babacar Gueye, Thiellal project coordinator in Senegal. people (including 2,513 women) will benefit directly from the project activities. rural communes in the department of Velingara (Ouassadou, Pakour, Paroumba and Linkering) comprising 164 villages and 74,800 inhabitants, will benefit from this project in addition to the town of Velingara which has 23,775 inhabitants. Project Thiellal COUNTRY Senegal Read more and HEALTH PRIORITIES one health