BRAIN HEALTH, ONE HEALTH, COVID-19 AND OUR COLLECTIVE FUTURE

ABSTRACT

Objective: Brain health is fundamental to all health. Within the context of brain health and the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, it is vitally important for us as a medical community and as a species to reflect deeply upon our role in these increasingly frequent events and about what we can do to avoid them in the future. Results: The COVID-19 crisis has thus far affected over 350 million people in 226 countries and regions, resulting in over 5.6 million deaths and substantial acute and subacute brain morbidity in many forms with the potential for producing long-term neurological impairment in a high percentage of survivors. The crisis has also provided us with another fundamental determinant of brain health and overall health-the interconnectedness of all life-other humans, nonhumans and the earth. Conclusion: To mitigate the considerable increase in worldwide risk of lethal zoonotic diseases that impact negatively upon brain health, we need to discontinue live-wildlife markets and factory farming, two activities which are among the most threatening to human health and among the most debasing to our species. For the sake of humans, non-humans and the earth, there is a fundamental and urgent need for us to evolve toward eating forms of protein that are safer for humans, including abundant traditional plant-derived food sources as well as the more recently developed plant-based meat/dairy/egg alternatives and cultured meat (produced by culturing animal cells). And we need to advance our governance structures so that they are neither rewarding activities that are destructive to the planet nor heavily prioritizing economic governance over health and environmental governance. A One Health approach should be the new norm across the various sectors as we invent and implement equitable economic systems that have human, animal and environmental health at their cores.