One Health: The Key piece to tackling the Superbug puzzle 

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the greatest health threats we face today, but connecting the health of humans, animals and the environment with the One Health approach, offers a powerful strategy to tackling AMR at its roots. By addressing the interconnected pathways through which resistance spreads, One Health enables a more coordinated and preventative approach to slowing the rise of AMR.

Implementing One Health comes with challenges, but progress is being made. Australia’s digital health ecosystem is taking important strides towards embracing the One Health approach, paving the way for more integrated and effective solutions to tackle AMR.

What is One Health? 

Think of human, animal and environment health as pieces of a puzzle. When one piece is missing, the whole picture is incomplete. The One Health approach connects these pieces, recognising they are deeply intertwined. Similarly, when one sector is not engaged in the fight against AMR, then infections increase.

For example, when AMR spreads between animals, it can often cross over to humans – and vice versa. Or when a human is infected and prescribed antibiotics, up to 80% of the antibiotic is not metabolised and ends up in wastewater, potentially contaminating our environment. When we pollute the environment, we disturb the natural balance in ecosystems, creating conditions that make it easier for harmful microbes to thrive and spread.

One Health approach helps address these interlinked issues in the battle against AMR.

Breaking up the AMR puzzle

Despite efforts to identify interconnected factors influencing AMR across One Health, siloed efforts continue. Doctors, veterinarians, farmers and environmental scientists all have their own competing priorities and challenges. This disconnection makes it hard to understand AMR across One Health and mitigate its threat.

Currently, it’s like we are trying to solve the AMR puzzle without the image on the box – you can guess, but you won’t know the whole picture.

To tackle AMR, we need to create an integrated surveillance system that connects the pieces between human, animal and environmental health to give us a clear picture of the puzzle.  

Toward a unified system 

Building an integrated surveillance system that follows One Health principles is key. It requires standardised data, systems that can talk to each other, agreement on regulations, and importantly ownership of the AMR problem across the sectors.

At CSIRO, we are actively exploring ways to address challenges to meet these requirements. The HOTspots team is adopting a systems thinking approach, which examines the drivers of AMR. This approach can help stakeholders build a shared understanding of the problem, clarify responsibilities, and develop a collective path forward. As part of this we need to know the logistics and supply chain barriers. We need to know where the hotspots are now and, in the future. But none of this will work if we don’t engage the community and the very people who are most affected by AMR.

The fight against AMR is far from over, but with One Health, we have a fighting chance. Let’s put the puzzle pieces together.