The third pillar of One Health: why environment can't be an afterthought (from ESCAIDE 2025)

Topic outline

• The third pillar of One Health: why environment can't be an afterthought

  The third pillar of One Health: why environment can't be an afterthought

  This session was held as a part of ESCAIDE 2025, ECDC's annual conference on applied infectious disease epidemiology. 

  Want to know more?

  You can find more information about ESCAIDE here: https://www.escaide.eu, and about ECDC's work here: https://ecdc.europa.eu.
• Objectives

  Objectives

  After completing this activity, participants should be able to:

  • Explain why it is important for the One Health approach to include environmental issues and climate change through illustrating how public health threats are linked to climate change.  
  • Understand how public health officials can use data provided by the European Environment Agency. 
  • Describe how public health officials can monitor for AMR and collect data from different sources including wastewater.
• Watch the session

  Watch the session

  
  
• Summary of the content

  Summary of the content

  Summary of the content

  This presentation is part of a plenary session held at ESCAIDE 2025, titled ‘The third pillar of One Health: why environment can't be an afterthought’. The One Health approach recognises the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health, yet the environmental dimension is frequently overlooked in public health planning. This represents a missed opportunity as environmental systems crucially influence health risks and disease emergence, particularly for threats like climate change and antimicrobial resistance.

  Drawing on EU Member States’ experiences, speakers will explore how environmental systems influence health risks and examine the potential of environmental surveillance, including wastewater monitoring, for early warning. Through case studies and practical examples, the discussion will address how integrated surveillance and preparedness planning can be strengthened, offering policy recommendations and lessons learned to guide further action.

  Chairs (learn more about the chairs on the ESCAIDE website)

  • Carlos das Neves – Chief Scientist, EFSA, Italy
  • Tyra Grove Krause – Head of Department Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Denmark

  
  

  Speakers (learn more about the speakers on the ESCAIDE website)

  • Jan Semenza – Researcher, Umeå University, Sweden
  • Gerardo Sanchez Martinez – Expert in Environment and Health, European Environment Agency, Denmark
  • Frank Møller Aarestrup – Head of Research Group for Genomic Epidemiology, Danish Technical University, Denmark
  • Boudewijn Catry – Head of Healthcare-associated infections & AMR, Sciensano, Belgium
• Additional resources

  Additional resources
  • URLCheck other ESCAIDE materials on Learning Portal
• Contacts

  Contacts

  For more information about ESCAIDE, please see www.escaide.eu, or contact the ESCAIDE team at escaide.conference@ecdc.europa.eu. 

  If you have questions regarding other training initiatives please contact: courses@ecdc.europa.eu.

  If you have technical issues please contact the ECDC Service Desk at servicedesk@ecdc.europa.eu.

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