The One Health framework recognises that human health, animal health, and ecosystem health are fundamentally interconnected. Improving animal welfare is therefore not only an ethical imperative but a strategy for protecting human and planetary health.
The One Health framework creates a powerful argument for animal welfare improvement that goes beyond ethics alone. When animals are stressed, immunocompromised, and crowded — as in factory farming and live wildlife markets — they shed pathogens at higher rates and provide conditions for novel pathogen evolution. Reducing the density and stress of farm animal populations, ending live wildlife trade, and protecting natural habitats all reduce zoonotic disease risk. This means animal welfare improvements are simultaneously public health investments. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the catastrophic human cost of inadequate animal welfare and habitat protection. Advocates can and should make this connection explicit in policy arguments, bridging the gap between animal welfare and public health communities.