by Abu Bakar Bin Alam,
2 November, 2025
From 2-5 November 2025, the world’s most farsighted health experts, advocates, and policymakers will convene in Lyon, France, for the 3rd World Conference on One Sustainable Health (OSH) to discuss the alignment of transdisciplinary expertise and resources to implement the “One Sustainable Health” approach.
For Bangladesh, the significance of the One Health approach is now more profound than ever. One Health sees human, animal, and environmental well-being as an interconnected system. With recent anthrax outbreaks in Bangladesh’s northern parts and surging dengue outbreaks nationwide, it is indisputable that dense populations cannot be guaranteed a healthy life if the livestock they depend on and the environment they live in are unhealthy.
Bangladesh is a country of contradictory climate hazards. The low-lying lands suffer from droughts and floods indiscriminately, coastal areas are battered by cyclones and ravaged by salinity, and a solely anthropocentric approach only hastens the breakdown of the ecosystem.
When any component of the ecosystem, such as the environment, fails, it leads to a total collapse of the entire system. Diseases spread faster, new diseases emerge, and food security and livelihoods are threatened with dire consequences. The global pandemic that ground the entire planet to a halt is the ultimate example of this, and one of very recent memory. Far removed from the plague rats of the 14th century, an unsanitary wet market selling animal products resulted in over 7 million deaths.
For the vast majority of people in Bangladesh, those who are the most climate vulnerable, human wellbeing is intricately tied to the state of nature and livestock health.
Friendship’s Integrated Holistic Approaches
Friendship has built its model on the understanding that no sector can thrive in isolation. By working in health, education, sustainable economic development, climate action and cultural preservation. Floating hospitals reach people in river islands, while satellite clinics, livestock training and community awareness build local capacity to manage health risks. Friendship’s holistic method links these threads together, ensuring that people are not only treated for illness but equipped to live healthier, safer lives.
Promoting One Health in Bangladesh
Friendship’s commitment to One Health has grown through years of applied expertise in the field.
In June 2023, Friendship hosted a national workshop in Dhaka titled “One Sustainable Health for All,” which brought together human, animal and environmental health experts to strengthen collaboration in Bangladesh’s most climate-affected regions.
The most climate-impacted communities are supported by Friendship through integrated solutions that protect their environment, animals and health altogether in a scalable model for resilience. The proven success shows that One Health is not merely one of the approaches, but the most comprehensive by far.
The One Health approach effectively addresses the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.
Friendship’s mangrove afforestation programme is another holistic solution that takes this approach. The 670,000+ mangrove trees planted across 220 hectares in Satkhira, with a target of 1,500 hectares by 2030, have helped trap carbon, restore biodiversity, and provide livelihood opportunities through fishing and foraging for local communities.
Mangroves benefit people, animals, and the environment alike by integrating mangrove restoration into its healthcare and livelihood work. Friendship has demonstrated that ecosystem protection is a form of health protection. A healthy nature means healthy people and healthy communities.
Looking Ahead
In 2025, Friendship’s mangrove afforestation project was selected as a finalist for the Earthshot Prize in the “Fix Our Climate” category. This recognition affirms that local action can have global consequences. It reflects how Friendship’s integrated approach, built on the principles of One Health, is already shaping climate solutions that reach beyond borders.
In a time where human life on Earth is expected to be drastically altered, this is a reminder that working solutions are out there; they only need to be scaled up and applied indiscriminately across borders. Humans inhabit only one planet in the known universe; to ensure continuity for future generations, there is one idea ready, One Sustainable Health for All.
