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Learn to see the connections between human, animal, and environmental. Understanding these connections allows us to approach challenges in a holistic and constructionist approach and address problems at their root causes rather than treating their outcomes.
After a course session ends, it will be archived.
Are you interested in understanding how global climate change will alter human society, animal health, and the environment? Are you curious about how these three things are interconnected?
This course focuses on what is happening right now in the Arctic, where climate change is accelerating twice as fast as the rest of the world. Understanding how Arctic ecosystems are adapting and collapsing can give us insight into future changes across the globe. While this course is focused on the Arctic, the principles and concepts in this course can be applied anywhere in the world.
Finding deep solutions to new challenges caused by climate change can’t be accomplished using only traditional fields of science, such as medicine or biology.
Addressing these issues effectively requires a novel approach, one that integrates knowledge across disciplines and cultures and recognizes the interdependence of human, animal, and environmental health. This concept, always central to the Indigenous worldview, has recently been recognized in Western science as One Health.
One Health was originally developed as a means of understanding how zoonotic diseases, such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic, arise.
Between 65% and 70% of emerging diseases in humans are of zoonotic origin. The way we impact our environment and how this influences human-animal interactions play a significant role in how these diseases develop and spread.
Health is more than the absence of disease and can be defined as a state of well-being for individuals and their communities. Under this definition, well-being encompasses physical, mental, behavioral, cultural, and spiritual health.
Applying this holistic approach to the One Health paradigm allows us to bring in expertise across natural and social sciences and connect Western science with traditional Indigenous ways of knowing.
Such a broad and deep integration of knowledge and experience provides opportunities for understanding large issues like food safety, security, and sovereignty at their roots, and for engaging stakeholders to build effective solutions.
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Students who complete this course will:
Have a solid understanding of the One Health concept
Be able to identify how One Health can provide a lens through which to view a variety of challenging situations in human, animal, and environmental health
Explain how the One Health approach can lead to sustainable solutions to critical issues facing communities in the Circumpolar North and beyond
Students will also:
Explain the One Health paradigm with a focus on the Circumpolar North and global applications
Describe the ten thousand-year history of One Health
Explore interrelationships between human, animal, and environmental health
Provide examples of challenges best addressed through the One Health paradigm
Describe how Traditional ways of knowing and Western science can be used together to understand and manage One Health issues
Week 1: One Health Overview
Welcome to the Course
One Health Concepts
Indigenous Worldview
The Zen Venn Approach
Week 2: Human Health and Animal Health
Animal Health Introduction
Why Animal Health Matters
Human Health Introduction
Human Health - More than just the Absence of Disease
Week 3: Environmental Health - Our Role in the Ecosystem
Environmental Health
One Health and Climate Change
Biodiversity
Biocontaminants and Contaminant Monitoring
Week 4: Social Sciences in One Health
Social Sciences Introduction
One Health Paradigm
Role of Team Science in One Health
Collaboration in One Health
This course was excellent and is a great introduction to One Health. I feel inspired to move forward with my learning and would like to thank all the people involved in its creation and delivery. Although academic in reading content the course also had videos that were accessible and at times very moving. I have already recommended this course to others. - Patrick Green (audit track learner)
I highly recommend this course and have been delighted to find how many connections outside the course I have been able to draw upon. -Previous student (audit track learner)
Professor of Clinical Nutrition • University of Alaska Fairbanks Center for One Health
Master's Coordinator • University of Alaska Fairbanks Center for One Health
Program Administrator • University of Alaska Fairbanks Center for One Health Research
Q: Does UAF offer more One Health courses?
A: UAF has a One Health Masters Degree that can be taken online or in person.