Assessing the social value of one health approaches
One Health is an approach to the design and implementation of health programmes, policies and research that recognises the interlinkages between public health, animal health, and their shared environment. While increasingly seen as needed, notably at the European Union (EU) level, its operationalisation remains limited owing, partly, to the lack of a substantial body of evidence on its added value. In particular, knowledge gaps exist on how a One Health approach to disease mitigation may generate or preserve health benefits in addition to those directly linked to reduced health risks, on the possible effects of its outcomes on objectives of broader policies, and on how social value can be generated. The valOH project aims at addressing these questions by investigating the social value of One Health approaches using a wide-ranging perspective of the outcomes. Research outputs will expand the current evidence base on the broader benefits of One Health and have the potential to inform decision making, ultimately impacting the policy cycle of several EU initiatives. The project is structured in interlinked research tasks: the development of a conceptual framework; its application to the example of antimicrobial resistance and the quantification of preferences on social value linked outcomes and their distribution through a discrete choice experiment; and the exploration of possible policy implications. The Researcher will emerge from the action with in-depth knowledge on the social value of One Health, new skills in health equity assessment methods, as well as in engagement and leadership and increased competence on interdisciplinary approaches to health, knowledge translation, social impact and more widely on Global Health. The knowledge and skills acquired during the action will grant her the capacity to reach independence as a researcher and re-enforce her professional maturity in the One Health field.