Veterinarians and One Health

Companion and assistance animals play an increasingly important role in people's lives, providing many social and psychological benefits, and assisting those with physical or psychological impairments. By protecting the health of these animals, veterinarians strengthen and support the human-animal bond. Veterinarians also are a key part of the team addressing animal mistreatment and its links to other forms of cruelty and neglect.

• Dog Bite Prevention
  Each year, more than 4.5 million people in the U.S. are bitten by dogs. Nearly 20% of them require medical attention. Veterinarians provide crucial education to the public on how to properly train pets, approach animals safely, and avoid dog bites.
• Service and therapy animals
  Animals can play a vital role in assisting people with disabilities and participating in therapeutic activities. Veterinarians help clients select the right animals for their intended tasks, provide care consistent with the animals' roles, and help stop fraudulent representations of pets as assistance animals.

From issues like antimicrobial resistance to diseases that can be transferred between people and animals, veterinarians have the unique knowledge and experience to address the many ways that animals impact people. Likewise, human and public health issues often affect animal health and welfare. For example, restrictions on sheltering animals with people during natural disasters can result in animal abandonment.

• Food Protection and Agriculture Safety
  Foods derived from animals are essential to the health and wellbeing of people. Veterinary medicine is at the forefront of food safety, ensuring the production of high-quality animal-derived foods that are free of microbial or chemical contaminants.
• Antimicrobial Resistance
  Antimicrobials are critical tools for preventing and fighting diseases in both people and animals. Antimicrobial resistance occurs when a microorganism develops the ability to survive and reproduce despite the use of an antimicrobial. This can threaten animal and public health by making it difficult or impossible to treat the diseases caused by these microorganisms. The judicious use of antimicrobials is critical to preserve their effectiveness.
• Opioid abuse
  Human opioid abuse has become an epidemic in the United States, and veterinarians want to do our part to help keep these drugs out of the hands of people who might abuse them. At the same time, it's critical that veterinarians have access to the tools we need—including drugs like opioids—to care for our patients.
• Zoonotic disease
  Zoonotic diseases, such as rabies, SARS, West Nile virus, and many more, pose a serious threat to public health. In fact, it has been estimated that over 75% of all emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic. Veterinarians lead the way in studying zoonotic diseases and developing programs to better diagnose, treat, and eradicate them.

Veterinary expertise in toxicology, epidemiology, and ecology are vital to efforts to understand, control, prevent, diagnose, and treat environment-associated diseases that affect both people and animals.

• Emergency planning and disaster recovery
  Veterinarians are at the helm of emergency planning and disaster recovery efforts at the local, state, and federal levels. From rescuing pets and their owners, to safeguarding livestock and animal food products, veterinarians are central to preventing localized emergencies from becoming animal and public health and welfare calamities.
• Waste disposal
  Veterinary practices, like all medical-related businesses, generate a variety of chemical and waste byproducts that may pose environmental hazards. AVMA recommends specific waste segregation and disposal guidelines, including for the disposal of pharmaceuticals and animal carcasses.
• Wildlife management and protection
  Veterinarians are dedicated to the health, conservation, management, and welfare of wildlife. AVMA develops policy, guidance, and program recommendations to support effective management of wildlife-livestock interactions, and mitigate disease that may be transmitted between these populations and to the people involved in their management.