A One Health Approach to Understanding Emerging Infectious Disease
Teaching Resources for Interdisciplinary Higher Education
About this resource
Integrating One Health into higher education is crucial for pandemic preparedness. One Health recognizes the interconnectedness of human, animal, plant, and environmental health, understanding that disease events can be linked to all four domains. One Health education supports the cultivation of a holistic understanding of the systems involved in preventing and responding to disease events, and the interdisciplinary collaboration necessary to facilitate coordinated efforts across sectors.
Integrating One Health into higher education is not just about preparing for the next pandemic; it's about fostering a scientifically literate citizenry in a time where myriad social, economic, environmental, and biological factors contribute to global challenges that require the cooperation of informed individuals to navigate sustainably.
Recommended Use
This resource includes lessons and activities that may be integrated into courses across undergraduate disciplines to teach key concepts in taking a One Health Approach to understanding and addressing emerging infectious diseases. We also offer a library with links to reputable external resources that may be leveraged to enhance classroom teaching on a wide array of One Health related topics.
As you explore this site you will find materials for facilitating a series of four foundational lessons. Depending on the experience level and prior knowledge of learners, instructors may choose to implement all four or a sub-selection of lessons. Each lesson is presented in sections including activities suitable for in-class, small group, or independent work. Facilitators may adapt these lessons to their specific teaching context and setting as they see fit. In addition, a selection of shorter activities is also provided to allow facilitators to address specific content concisely.
Activities
Pandemics and Visual Art
Learners explore the use of art to express emotions during disease outbreaks, analyzing historical artwork from the Plague era and connecting it to modern art created during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Disease Outbreak
Learners act as epidemiologists analyzing real Nipah virus outbreak data in Malaysia to make predictions, calculations, and recommendations for the CDC and WHO in this Howard Hughes Medical Institute BioInteractive activity.
Evaluating Science in the News
Learners assess the credibility of a science news article on the fungal pathogen C. auris using evaluation tools provided in this activity from Howard Hughes Medical Institute BioInteractive.
One Health Communications
Learners craft One Health-informed communication tools for Valley fever in Yolo County, inspired by discussions on public health, COVID-19 communication, and climate-related disease risks.
Disease Events and Society
Analyze the Healthy Davis Together COVID-19 response, its scalability, and how lessons can be applied to future pandemic preparedness in line with the idea of collective human responsibility from Frank M. Snowden's interview.
One Health Approach to Zoonotic Disease
Explore zoonotic disease risks, stakeholder interests, and strategies for comprehensive risk assessment in a group discussion following a news article on rodents and disease.
What is One Health?
Learn about the benefits and challenges of the One Health approach to combat emerging infectious diseases and how to engage relevant experts in global health research.
