One Health Center opens site for human-animal-environment research

One Health Center, established by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the University of Edinburgh, unveiled its Chongming research base on Friday, during which a whole-health research network was also established.

The center was set up in 2020 to study major health problems and management between human health, animals and the environment, and cultivate talent to provide technological and policy consultation for the government and carry out research.

On Friday, its training and research site on Shanghai's Chongming Island debuted, boosting research for risk alerts related to zoonosis, microbial drug resistance and food safety through a human-animal-environment database. The center will also make the island a trial base and role model for whole-health research and practice to promote the concept across the nation, officials said.

Jiang Fan from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine said the prevention and control of new infectious diseases should not only come from the human perspective, but the whole-health system of medicine, veterinary medicine and the environment, with cooperation and participation from multidisciplinary experts and various governmental bodies.