ELSI Dialogues: The role of biobanks in realising the One Health approach

One Health aims at sustainably balancing and optimising the health of humans, animals, plants and the environment. This integrated perspective is especially important for tackling emerging zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, food safety risks, environmental pollution and global health security. However, One Health operates within regulatory frameworks that differ across sectors, requiring consensus between fragmented governance structures. Operationalising a One Health approach calls for a convergence of legal provisions and regulatory compliance to become effective.

Biobanking across human and non-human domains could play a key role in enabling the One Health approach by supporting the collection, storage and sharing of samples and data for surveillance, research, and policymaking. At the same time, it raises ethical, legal, and operational challenges that need to be addressed.

This webinar opens with a short introduction by Josephine Uldry (Swiss Biobanking), outlining the means for the biobanking community to support a One Health approach in research. Prof. Jakob Zinsstag (Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute), a pioneer of the One Health concept, shares insights from his extensive field experience in implementing this approach in diverse contexts and communities, illustrating how One Health approaches can improve epidemiology and public health policy in practice. Dr. Adam Strobeyko (Swiss Biobanking and Global Health Centre, Geneva Graduate Institute) discusses the legal dimensions of pandemic prevention, preparedness, and the response to the efforts to integrate One Health into international frameworks and practical implications for biobanks.

Acknowledgements: Funded by the EU. EvolveBBMRI has received funding from the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.

Listen to the BBMRI-ERIC podcast episode