10. Single Health: a quality environment is essential for a quality life

2023/06/07 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Dekalogoa
• Ingurumena

Each species has a specific function in the complex ecosystem network, so we're completely interdependent. It is noted that, for example, human health, animal health and environmental health are interdependent. When one is not healthy, others also suffer the consequences. The concept of Single Health, proposed by the World Health Organization, conveys this idea. Spreading this concept can help society take on the idea of interdependence and that biodiversity is the life insurance of the planet.

However, the concept of Single Health is often used in a rather anthropocentric way, with the sole purpose of guaranteeing human health. Scientists demand the need to move away from these discourses and incorporate environmental ethics into the concept. In fact, the concept of Single Health encompasses a series of inseparable ideas:

On the one hand, health as a universal good. Health is not an exclusive right of human beings, but of other species, ecosystems and future generations. While public health focuses on the health of human populations, the Single Health seeks a fair distribution of human, animal, plant and environmental health. That is, eco-social balance.

On the other hand, it calls for socio-political and multicultural equity, where all people have the same rights and opportunities. Single Health makes no sense without a strong commitment to marginal communities and voices.