One health education for future physicians in the pan-epidemic “Age of Humans”

Abstract

We propose the term “pan-epidemic Anthropocene” to refer to multifocal infectious disease epidemics related to human-caused (anthropogenic) forces such as urbanization, globalization, industrialization and the growing populations of humans and animals. The integrated framework of One Health (human, animal, and environmental health) helps both to understand why epidemics occur when and where they do, and also how to respond, mitigate, and sometimes prevent them. We suggest a collaborative mechanism for increasing One Health in medical education to create a synergy of strengths between the growing number of contributing One Health organizations in the US and internationally. Keywords: Pan-epidemic anthropocene, One health, Physician education