Urgent but isolated: Public perception and understanding of One Health in daily life
5 affiliations
- 1Centre for Food Science and Veterinary Public Health, Clinical Department for Farm Animals and Food System Transformation, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria; One Health PhD Programme, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria
- 2Clinical Centre for Ruminants, Camelids and Herd Health Management, Clinical Department for Farm Animals and Food System Transformation, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria; One Health PhD Programme, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria
- 3Messerli Research Institute of Human Animal Interactions, Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria; One Health PhD Programme, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria
- 4Clinical Centre for Population Medicine in Fish, Pig and Poultry, Clinical Department for Farm Animals and Food System Transformation, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria; One Health PhD Programme, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria
- 5Centre for Pathobiology, Department of Biological Sciences and Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria; One Health PhD Programme, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria; Corresponding author at: Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
Abstract
Effective One Health (OH) implementation relies heavily on public cooperation, yet how the public perceives daily life OH intersections remains understudied. We investigated this baseline understanding via a targeted survey conducted during an open house event at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna ( n = 92 responses). When presented with an everyday scenario–how preparing a fresh salad might inadvertently link global health, animal husbandry, and the environment–most participants cautiously acknowledged a connection, though only 10.9% accurately identified the underlying systemic linkages, suggesting a tendency toward overgeneralization. While recognised urgency for integrated veterinary, human, and environmental health solutions was high (83.7% rating OH action as highly urgent), open-ended mapping of everyday OH encounters predominantly focused on isolated categories like “Environment & Pollution”, “Everyday Life”, and “Food & Consumption”; leaving animal and agricultural dimensions critically underrepresented. These findings reveal a striking paradox of strong public motivation alongside fragmented OH understanding. We conclude that bridging this gap requires targeted public education utilizing brief, tangible daily examples to translate high systemic anxiety into actionable literacy. Limitations include priming and a modest, non-representative sample.
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BibTeX
@article{saria2026urgent,
title = {{Urgent but isolated: Public perception and understanding of One Health in daily life}},
author = {P. Saria and E.-M. Bartl and S. Winkler and R. Liermann and D. Ernst and S. Kau-Strebinger},
journal = {One Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.onehlt.2026.101623},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.onehlt.2026.101623},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Urgent but isolated: Public perception and understanding of One Health in daily life
AU - P. Saria
AU - E.-M. Bartl
AU - S. Winkler
AU - R. Liermann
AU - D. Ernst
AU - S. Kau-Strebinger
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
JO - One Health
DO - 10.1016/j.onehlt.2026.101623
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.onehlt.2026.101623
AB - Effective One Health (OH) implementation relies heavily on public cooperation, yet how the public perceives daily life OH intersections remains understudied. We investigated this baseline understanding via a targeted survey conducted during an open house event at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna ( n = 92 responses). When presented with an everyday scenario–how preparing a fresh salad might inadvertently link global health, animal husbandry, and the environment–most participants cautiously acknowledged a connection, though only 10.9% accurately identified the underlying systemic linkages, suggesting a tendency toward overgeneralization. While recognised urgency for integrated veterinary, human, and environmental health solutions was high (83.7% rating OH action as highly urgent), open-ended mapping of everyday OH encounters predominantly focused on isolated categories like “Environment & Pollution”, “Everyday Life”, and “Food & Consumption”; leaving animal and agricultural dimensions critically underrepresented. These findings reveal a striking paradox of strong public motivation alongside fragmented OH understanding. We conclude that bridging this gap requires targeted public education utilizing brief, tangible daily examples to translate high systemic anxiety into actionable literacy. Limitations include priming and a modest, non-representative sample.
SN - 2352-7714
ER -