Economic Opportunities and Benefits of Implementing One World-One Health Strategies for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Prepared on behalf of the Public Health Agency of Canada. Countries that adopt integrated approaches to health promotion and disease prevention for humans, domestic animals, and wildlife may be able to reap significant net economic benefits compared with traditional approaches that are more fragmented and less effective. Emerging infectious diseases in humans and animals are imposing billions of dollars of economic damages to economies around the world. Prevention and management of disease outbreaks can play a significant role in a nation’s overall economic performance. For example, even though relatively few Canadians were infected by the 2003 SARS outbreak in Canada, the disease significantly affected the country’s overall economic performance in the second quarter of that year.