On World Health Day, global leaders gathered in France for a milestone “One Health Summit”, where the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners announced a new wave of concrete actions to better protect people, animals and the planet from future health crises.

Hosted by France, the Summit marks a major step forward in turning the One Health approach – which recognizes that human health, animal health and the environment are deeply connected – into real-world action. This year’s World Health Day theme, “Together for health. Stand with science,” set the tone for the announcements.

The urgency could not be clearer. Climate change, environmental degradation, unsafe food, water contamination, biodiversity loss and unequal access to health care are among the most pressing challenges facing the world today. About 60% of known infectious diseases in humans originate in animals, and around 75% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic. The COVID-19 pandemic alone resulted in an estimated 15 million deaths and caused trillions of dollars in economic losses globally in 2020-2021.