One Arctic – One Health Conference gathered researchers from the whole Circumpolar area

The science sections focused on all the multidisciplinary themes of One Health approach - health of environment, wildlife, domestic animals and humans - from social aspects to technological solutions.

The One Health concept recognizes that the health of people is related to the health of animals, plants and the environment. This holistic approach can be traced as far back as to Hippocrates who considered the human health as a part of the health of the environment.

"One Health means health of people, environment, wildlife and domestic animals. The problems, like microbial drug resistance or zoonoses, related to the health, are global and they require multidisciplinary global solutions", explain Professor Arja Rautio from the University of Oulu and Vice-president Research from the University of Arctic and Professor Antti Oksanen from the Finnish Food Authority. "Health means physical and mental health and well-being of individuals and the community”.

“The speakers of the One Arctic - One Health Conference came from the eight member countries of the Arctic Council: Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada and the United States. The themes of the conference were related to the common topics of health in the Arctic areas, such as the variety of zoonoses, in other words diseases that spread between animals and people; the health and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples, food safety, the adequacy of clean water and the impact of climate change on the spread of diseases.”

Zoonotic diseases are a larger part of the new emerging infectious diseases and it is natural that they were the central theme of the conference.

The conference was organized in cooperation with Finnish Food Authority, University of Oulu, Arctic Council, University of the Arctic, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The conference was an integral part of Finland’s Arctic Council Chairmanship program.

 The next One Arctic – One Health Conference will be held in 2020 in Fairbanks, Alaska.

University of Oulu has been a member of the University of the Arctic since 2003 and
hosts the UArctic Thematic Networks and Research Liaison Office.

The One Arctic - One Health Conference is related to the work of the UArctic Thematic Network on Health and Well-being in the Arctic.