Abstract
Background : Companion animals can play vital roles in promoting human health and well-being, with the potential to mitigate contemporary social concerns about human isolation and loneliness. Zooeyia, recognized as the positive inverse of ‘zoonosis’, is a term inclusive of these benefits within One Health. Exploring zooeyia’s influence in One Health from a transdisciplinary lens offers a unique opportunity for integrative, cooperative systems thinking that recognizes people, animals, the environment, and the connections between them as parts of larger complex socioecological systems.
Methods : This case study presents our team’s initial work to develop a Canadian One Health human-animal bond network. Applying One Health zooeyia, we envision a transdisciplinary network that collaboratively explores the human-animal bond and its broader implications across systems that shape, and are shaped by, our increasingly asocial society.
Results : Guided by the One Health High-Level Expert Panel’s (OHHLEP) definition of transdisciplinary collaboration, our team’s early efforts have begun to address a global need identified by academic and non-academic knowledge holders alike – social disconnection, bridge disciplinary divides, elevate post-humanist and Indigenous perspectives, and critically engage with the social science dimensions of the human-animal bond. Collectively, these efforts have already generated valuable insights and practical lessons for advancing transdisciplinarity broadly within One Health.
Conclusion : Emphasizing systems thinking in future One Health zooeyia initiatives can contribute to a more inclusive, responsive, and resilient future for One Health research, policy, and practice.