The One Health Summit held in Lyon, France, marks a pivotal shift from theoretical “One Health” concepts to large-scale, coordinated global action. Hosted by France in partnership with the Quadripartite (WHO, FAO, UNEP, and WOAH), the summit focuses on the inescapable link between human, animal, and environmental health as the primary defense against future pandemics.
​The summit’s strategy is built on the reality that over 60% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic (jumping from animals to humans). To address this, the 2026 strategy focuses on connecting data from wildlife monitoring, veterinary clinics, and human hospitals to create an “early warning system” for new pathogens.
A new initiative launched at the summit to mobilize multidisciplinary expertise and provide technical support to countries implementing these integrated plans.
Treating the overuse of antibiotics in livestock and human medicine as a single, unified threat to global health
Recognizing that deforestation and biodiversity loss force wildlife into closer contact with humans, the strategy treats ecosystem preservation as a “public health” intervention.
​France has positioned itself as a leader in this space, using the summit to set the stage for its 2026 G7 Presidency. By hosting this in Lyon home to the WHO Academy. The goal is to create a permanent “One Health culture” where doctors, veterinarians, and environmental scientists are trained to work together by default rather than in silos.
As President Emmanuel Macron stated during the summit, “We live as one system.” Pandemic prevention is no longer just about vaccines; it is about maintaining the balance of the entire ecosystem.
