Examining the concept of One Health for indigenous communities: A systematic review

Abstract

Purpose: This paper examines whether the usage of the concept of One Health in Canada-based research aligns with traditional Indigenous notions of health and wellness. Methods: A comprehensive search of the literature was conducted using primary databases, including Scholars Portal, ProQuest Social Science, Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest), OVID Healthstar, Embase, Medline, Pubmed and Google Scholar. Papers discussing One Health and Indigenous Health were selected and analyzed through Nvivo12 to generate common themes across the studies. Results: The analysis identified three major themes that focused on One Health as it relates to climate change, zoonosis, and social relationships between humans and animals. Climate change was seen to have affected the environmental health of Northern latitude areas where many Indigenous communities reside. Infectious diseases within Indigenous communities were a frequent topic of study and indicated that infections transmitted by dogs are likely to be addressed with One Health interventions. One Health interventions are likely to equally address the health of humans, animals, and the environment. Conclusions: No significant connection between One Health and Indigenous knowledges was established in the analyzed articles. Articles discussed One Health as it pertains to epidemiological surveillance and research. The implications of utilizing One Health towards Indigenous Peoples and culture were not explicitly addressed.

Keywords

• One health
• Indigenous health
• Indigenous
• First nations
• Inuit
• AMR