"A health crisis is occurring that has to do with the deterioration of ecosystems and requires a holistic view to address it."

Every year 12.6 million people die in the world (1.4 million in Europe, 790,000 in the European Union) due to causes related to the environment. These are some of the data offered by Jesús Miguel Santamaría, director of the Institute of Biodiversity and Environment of the University of Navarra, who gave the session "Healthy Environment", within the framework of the XII SEMTSI Congress (Spanish Society of Tropical Medicine and International Health) organized by the ISTUN, which was held from March 8 to 10 at the University of Navarra Museum, where different experts discussed the transmission of infectious diseases between people and animals.

Jesús Miguel Santamaría said that human, animal and environmental health are intrinsically linked and interdependent, and reviewed the environmental issues that have the greatest impact on human health - and also on the economy - such as air quality (mainly due to exposure to tropospheric ozone, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter), indoor pollution (due both to the design of new intelligent buildings and to some materials used in everyday life that release toxic compounds such as cleaning products or paints), water quality (presence of mercury, microplastics and eutrophication due to excess nutrients) and the effects of climate change (heat waves, worsening air quality or an increase in diseases transmitted by water, food and various vectors).

Santamaría stressed the importance of not to exceed the planetary limits established by the scientific community for the proper functioning and resilience of the Earth - issues such as biodiversity loss, climate change, water or land use, emerging pollutants, among others. "If we do not respect these limits, abrupt changes will occur that will be irreversible." 

The professor insisted that in order to tackle environmental problems we must create multidisciplinary groups. "There is a health crisis that has to do with the deterioration of ecosystems and requires a holistic vision to address it". In addition, he pointed out the importance of both individual responsibility and environmental education for the new generations: "The youngest are going to be the driving force and the ones who are going to change things".

Professor Santamaría's presentation was part of a round table discussion entitled "One Health and Other Challenges" moderated by Esperanza Rodríguez de las Parras, which also included Iñigo Lasa from Navarrabiomed who spoke on "Persistent or Antibiotic Resistant Bacterial Infections", and Almudena Mari from the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, who spoke telematically on "Anthropology and Emerging Zoonotic Diseases".