Tyler McKay | Assistant News Editor
Featured Image: Professors Sean Hillier and Mary Wiktorowicz are co-leading the study. | Courtesy of yFile
Work is due to begin on the One Health Network for the Global Governance of Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Resistance.
York and University of Ottawa researchers received a $2-million grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to conduct their work over four years. The study is being co-led by York professors Mary Wiktorowicz and Sean Hillier.
According to Hillier, the main goal of the study is to “strengthen Canadian leadership in improving the global governance of infectious diseases (IDs) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by building and sustaining a transdisciplinary and inter-sectoral One Health Network, originating in Canada but extending globally.”
These disciplines include the social sciences and human, animal, and environmental sciences.
“Doctors Wiktorowicz’s and Hillier’s work is incredibly important,” says Dean of Health Paul W. McDonald.
“A CIHR award of this size is very difficult to win and speaks to their expertise as well as York’s rapidly growing impact in global health through the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, an emerging School of Global Health, and the Global Strategy Lab,” he continues.
Other York participants in the study include James Orbinski, director of the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, and Huaiping Zhu, professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistic.
Hillier says he is specifically focusing on “applying an equity lens to identify equity shortcomings of a One Health approach to the Global Governance of IDs and AMR and develop strategies for mitigating such shortcomings.”
Hillier’s research at York involves assessing how policy shapes access and utilization of health care by Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
As a result, an Indigenous Advisory Circle and an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Task Force are to be created. The team is set to meet next month in Ottawa to work out the logistics of the Network.
Furthermore, Wiktorowicz has been studying global health policy and governance for many years. She has worked on topics such as pharmaceutical and mental health governance, as well as antimicrobial resistance.
Antimicrobial resistance poses a considerable threat to public health. According to the Center for Disease Control in the U.S., antimicrobial resistance is the ability of an infection or disease to survive a medication that had previously worked to eliminate it.
“AMR already kills 700,000 people a year,” says McDonald.
“It is undeterred by national borders and impacts vulnerable people the most. If we don’t take multi-sectoral, global action within 30 years it could take more than 10 million lives a year,” he continues.
That is why, according to Wiktorowicz, a global health network is needed. There needs to be global co-operation and integration of health networks to better prepare for AMR. The One Health Network is planned to be well-integrated with existing systems in Europe.
“I think this research is vital. Common infections can become dangerous as new resistance mechanisms emerge,” says fourth-year environmental studies student Rishav Panda.
“I believe the overuse of antibiotics for common infections like the common cold should be limited as it can accelerate the antimicrobial resistance.”
