Teaching the concept of One Health
One Health is an integrated, holistic approach for looking at complicated systems of human health, animal health and environmental health and how they all interact with each other.
Teaming up with the University of Melbourne’s School of Population and Global Health and Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Science, in 2018, the Doherty Institute introduced a new first year ‘breadth’ subject for University of Melbourne students, titled Our Planet, Our Health.
“The subject actually arose from several years of discussion between academics from these areas about how we can teach students about this broader interaction that is constantly occurring and why we need to collaborate,” says Dr Trish Campbell, a University of Melbourne Research Fellow at the Doherty Institute and lecturer in the subject.
“For the first-year subject, we provide students with a very broad understanding of One Health issues.”
In 2019, a new, second year subject, Our Planet, Our Health II, was introduced.
“For second year students, we actually delve into topics in greater detail, examining a separate case study each week. For example, one of the topics we cover is Ross River virus, where we look at all components, such as the mosquitos, medical presentations, case numbers and modelling.”
Students are also taken on site visits, including to the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza at the Doherty Institute and the Australian National Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease Registry at the Florey Institute.