Download PDF
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Yearb Med Inform 2023; 32(01): 019-026
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1768728
Special Section: Informatics for One Health
Working Group Contributions

Telehealth as a Component of One Health: a Position Paper

Arindam Basu
1   Faculty of Health, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
,
Vije Kumar Rajput
2   London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
,
Marcia Ito
3   São Paulo College of Technology, Centro Estadual de Educação Tecnológica Paula Souza, São Paulo, Brazil
,
Prasad Ranatunga
4   Health Information Management Unit, North-western Province, Sri Lanka
,
Craig Kuziemsky
5   McEwan University, Edmonton, Canada
,
Gumindu Kulatunga
6   Health Information Unit, Ministry of Health, Colombo, Sri Lanka
,
Inga Hunter
7   School of Management, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
,
Najeeb Al-Shorbaji
8   President, eHealth Development Association, Jordan, Amman, Jordan
,
Shashi Gogia
9   Society for Administration of Telemedicine and Healthcare Informatics, New Delhi, India
,
Sriram Iyengar
10   University of Arizona, United States of America
› Author Affiliations
› Further Information
   Permissions and Reprints

Summary

Introduction: One Health (OH) refers to the integration of human, animal, and ecosystem health within one framework in the context of zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance and stewardship, and food security. Telehealth refers to distance delivery of healthcare. A systems approach is central to both One Health and telehealth, and telehealth can be a core component of One Health. Here we explain how telehealth might be integrated into One Health.

Methods: We have considered antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a use case where both One Health and telehealth can be used for coordination among the farming sector, the veterinary services, and human health providers to mitigate the risk of AMR. We conducted a narrative review of the literature to develop a position on the inter-relationships between telehealth and One Health. We have summarised how telehealth can be incorporated within One Health.

Results: Clinicians have used telehealth to address antimicrobial resistance, zoonoses, food borne infection, improvement of food security and antimicrobial stewardship. We identified little existing evidence in support of the usage of telehealth within a One Health paradigm, although in isolation, both are useful for the same purpose, i.e., mitigation of the significant public health risks posed by zoonoses, food borne infections, and antimicrobial resistance.

Conclusions: It is possible to integrate telehealth within a One Health framework to develop effective inter-sectoral communication essential for the mitigation and addressing of zoonoses, food security, food borne infection containment and antimicrobial stewardship. More research is needed to substantiate and investigate this model of healthcare.

Keywords

One health - telehealth - mHealth - eHealth - telemedicine

Disclaimer

Views expressed in this article are our own and not an official position of the respective institutions.


Disclosure

None or as explained in the accompanying conflict of interest forms.




Publication History

Article published online:
26 December 2023

© 2023. IMIA and Thieme. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

 

  • References

  • 1 WHO. 2022. One Health. [available from : https://www.who.int/europe/initiatives/one-health].
    PubMed
  • 2 Evans BR., Leighton FA. A history of One Health. Rev Sci Tech 2014, 33(2):413–20.
    PubMed
  • 3 Mackenzie JS, Jeggo M. The One Health Approach—Why Is It So Important? Trop Med Infect Dis 2019; 4(2):88. doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed4020088.
    PubMed
  • 4 Benis A, Tamburis O, Chronaki C, Moen A. One Digital Health: A Unified Framework for Future Health Ecosystems. J Med Internet Res 2021;23(2):e22189. doi: 10.2196/22189.
    PubMed
  • 5 Basu A, Kuziemsky C, de Araújo Novaes M, Kleber A, Sales F, Al-Shorbaji N, et al. Telehealth and the COVID-19 Pandemic: International Perspectives and a Health Systems Framework for Telehealth Implementation to Support Critical Response. Yearb Med Inform 2021;30(01):126–33. doi: 10.1055/s-0041-1726484.
    PubMed
  • 6 Kuziemsky CE, Hunter I, Gogia SB, lyengar S, Kulatunga G, Rajput V, et al. Ethics in Telehealth: Comparison between Guidelines and Practice-based Experience -the Case for Learning Health Systems. Yearb Med Inform 2020;29(01):44–50. doi: 10.1055/s-0040-1701976.
    PubMed
  • 7 Kuziemsky C, Gogia S, Househ M, Petersen C, Basu A. Balancing Health Information Exchange and Privacy Governance from a Patient-Centred Connected Health and Telehealth Perspective. Yearb Med Inform 2018;27(01):48–54. doi: 10.1055/s-0038-1641195.
    PubMed
  • 8 Dorsey ER, Topol EJ. State of Telehealth. N Engl J Med 2016;375(2):154–61. doi: 10.1056/nejmra1601705.
    PubMed
  • 9 Murray CJ, Ikuta KS, Sharara F, Swetschinski L, Robles Aguilar G, Gray A, et al. Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis. The Lancet 2022;399(10325):629–55. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(21)02724-0.
    PubMed
  • 10 Osei Sekyere J, Reta MA. Genomic and Resistance Epidemiology of Gram-Negative Bacteria in Africa: a Systematic Review and Phylogenomic Analyses from a One Health Perspective. mSystems 2020;5(6). doi: 10.1128/msystems.00897-20.
    PubMed
  • 11 Alemayehu T, Hailemariam M. Prevalence of vancomycin-resistant enterococcus in Africa in one health approach: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sci Rep 2020;10(1):20542. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-77696-6.
    PubMed
  • 12 Oliver SP. Foodborne Pathogens and Disease Special Issue on the National and International PulseNet Network. Foodborne Pathog Dis 2019;16(7):439–40. doi: 10.1089/fpd.2019.29012.int.
    PubMed
  • 13 Smith BA, Meadows S, Meyers R, Parmley EJ, Fazil A. Seasonality and zoonotic foodborne pathogens in Canada: relationships between climate and Campylobacter, E. coli and Salmonella in meat products. Epidemiol Infect 2019;147. doi: 10.1017/s0950268819000797.
    PubMed
  • 14 Antunes P, Novais C, Peixe L. Food-to-Humans Bacterial Transmission. Microbiol Spectr 2020;8(1). doi: 10.1128/microbiolspec.mtbp-0019-2016.
    PubMed
  • 15 Tcharaktchiev D, Krastev E, Petrossians P, Abanos S, Kyurkchiev H, Kovatchev P. Cross-Border Exchange of Clinical Data Using Archetype Concepts Compatible with the International Patient Summary. Stud Health Technol Inform 2020;270:552–6. doi: 10.3233/SHTI200221.
    PubMed
  • 16 https://www.pubmed.gov
    PubMed
  • 17 Avent ML, Walker D, Yarwood T, Malacova E, Brown C, Kariyawasam N. et al. Implementation of a novel antimicrobial stewardship strategy for rural facilities utilising telehealth. Int J Antimicrob Agents 2021;57(6):106346. doi: 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2021.106346.
    PubMed
  • 18 Halpren-Ruder D, Chang AM, Hollander JE, Shah A. Quality Assurance in Telehealth: Adherence to Evidence-Based Indicators. Telemed J E Health 2019; 25(7):599–603. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2018.0149.
    PubMed
  • 19 Gillies MB, Burgner DP, Ivancic L, Nassar N, Miller JE, Sullivan SG, et al. Changes in antibiotic prescribing following COVID19 restrictions: Lessons for postpandemic antibiotic stewardship. Br J Clin Pharmacol 2021;88(3):1143–51. doi: 10.1111/bcp.15000.
    PubMed
  • 20 Pedrotti CHS, Accorsi TAD, De Amicis Lima K, Serpa Neto A, Lira MTSS, Morbeck RA, et al. Antibiotic stewardship in direct-to-consumer telemedicine consultations leads to high adherence to best practice guidelines and a low prescription rate. Int J Infect Dis 2021;105:130–4. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.02.020.
    PubMed
  • 21 Ceradini J, Tozzi AE, D'Argenio P, Bernaschi P, Manuri L, Brusco C, et al. Telemedicine as an effective intervention to improve antibiotic appropriateness prescription and to reduce costs in pediatrics. Ital J Pediatr 2017;43(1):105. doi: 10.1186/s13052-017-0423-3.
    PubMed
  • 22 van der Giessen J, Vlaanderen F, Kortbeek T, Swaan C, van den Kerkhof H, Broens E, et al. Signalling and responding to zoonotic threats using a One Health approach: a decade of the Zoonoses Structure in the Netherlands, 2011 to 2021. Euro Surveill 2022;27(31):2200039. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.es.2022.27.31.2200039.
    PubMed
  • 23 Akinsuyi OS, Orababa OQ, Juwon OM, Oladunjoye IO, Akande ET, Ekpueke MM, et al. One Health approach, a solution to reducing the menace of multidrug-resistant bacteria and zoonoses from domesticated animals in Nigeria – A review. Global Biosecurity 2021;3(1). doi: 10.31646/gbio.88.
    PubMed
  • 24 Sanders P, Vanderhaeghen W, Fertner M, Fuchs K, Obritzhauser W, Agunos A, et al. Monitoring of Farm-Level Antimicrobial Use to Guide Stewardship: Overview of Existing Systems and Analysis of Key Components and Processes. Front Vet Sci 2020;7:540. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2020.00540.
    PubMed
  • 25 Carmo LP, Schüpbach-Regula G, Müntener C, Chevance A, Moulin G, Magouras I. Approaches for quantifying antimicrobial consumption per animal species based on national sales data: a Swiss example, 2006 to 2013. Euro Surveill 2017;22(6):30458. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.es.2017.22.6.30458.
    PubMed
  • 26 Levy S. (2014). Reduced Antibiotic Use in Livestock: How Denmark Tackled Resistance. Environ Health Perspect 2014;122(6):A160-5. doi: 10.1289/ehp.122-a160.
    PubMed
  • 27 Speksnijder DC, Mevius DJ, Bruschke CJM, Wagenaar JA. Reduction of Veterinary Antimicrobial Use in the Netherlands. The Dutch Success Model. Zoonoses Public Health 2014;62:79–87. doi: 10.1111/zph.12167
    PubMed
  • 28 Shanbehzadeh M, Nopour R, Kazemi-Arpanahi H. Designing a standardized framework for data integration between zoonotic diseases systems: Towards one health surveillance. Inform Med Unlocked 2022;30:100893. doi: 10.1016/j.imu.2022.100893.
    PubMed
  • 29 Timme RE, Wolfgang WJ, Balkey M, Venkata SLG, Randolph R, Allard M, et al. Optimizing open data to support one health: best practices to ensure interoperability of genomic data from bacterial pathogens. One Health Outlook 2020;2(1):20. doi: 10.1186/s42522-020-00026-3.
    PubMed
  • 30 [available from: https://www.rcvs.org.uk/document-library/telemedicine-consultation-summary/].
    PubMed
  • 31 Steele SG, Booy R, Manocha R, Mor SM, Toribio JLML. Towards One Health clinical management of zoonoses: A parallel survey of Australian general medical practitioners and veterinarians. Zoonoses Public Health 2020;68(2):88–102. doi: 10.1111/zph.12799.
    PubMed
  • 32 Katapally TR. A Global Digital Citizen Science Policy to Tackle Pandemics Like COVID-19. J Med Internet Res 2020;22(5):e19357. doi: 10.2196/19357.
    PubMed
  • 33 de Moura RR, Chiba de Castro WA, Farinhas JH, Pettan-Brewer C, Kmetiuk LB, et al. One Health Index (OHI) applied to Curitiba, the ninth-largest metropolitan area of Brazil, with concomitant assessment of animal, environmental, and human health indicators. One Health 2022;14:100373. doi: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2022.100373.
    PubMed