Monash Bioeth. Rev.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40592-018-0079-9
1 3
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Rethinking “One Health” through Brucellosis: ethics,
boundaries and politics
Barak Hermesh
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· Anat Rosenthal
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· Nadav Davidovitch
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© Monash University 2018
Abstract One Health, as an international movement and as a research methodol-
ogy, aspires to cross boundaries between disciplines. However, One Health has also
been viewed as “reductionist” due to its overemphasize on physicians-veterinarians
cooperation and surveillance capacity enhancement, while limiting the involve-
ment with socio-political preconditioning factors that shape the impact of diseases,
and the ethical questions that eventually structure interventions. The current article
draws on a qualitative study of Brucellosis control in Israel, to address the benefits
of broadening the One Health perspective to include ethical considerations and the
socio-political aspects of health. Using in-depth-interviews, observations and docu-
ment review, the article analyzes stakeholders’ knowledge (policy makers, practi-
tioners and livestock owners) to understand Brucellosis control interventions in the
Negev region of Israel. The analysis highlights four different types of boundaries:
geographical, professional, disciplinary and participatory. The variety of boundaries
going beyond disciplinary ones, are often neglected by traditional One Health dis-
courses, however they provide clearer understanding regarding the role of the Israel
and Palestine relations; enforcement activities and trust creation; and mechanisms
of decision-making and public participation, in Brucellosis interventions. A broad
One Health analysis that addresses ethical concerns and socio-political environ-
ments, as well as human and veterinary medicine, encourages re-framing of causes
and solutions when dealing particularly with Brucellosis in the Negev, but more
generally with zoonotic diseases, low-trust settings and inequitable distribution of
power. The inclusion of historical, political and bioethical considerations of Public
Health in One Health creates opportunities to increase the relevance of One Health
and expand its scope as a novel scientific paradigm.
* Barak Hermesh
hermesh@post.bgu.ac.il
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Department of Health Systems Management, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, 8499000 Beersheba, Israel
@Phil_Robichaud
@deepthiw
@JoseServera