Historically, the role of government has been to provide a central source of authority and security. Ideally, domestic and national security enables people to live peaceful lives to their fullest potential. As social beings, people need to create and follow norms and laws to regulate their interactions and to minimize interpersonal conflicts.
Governments do not function like businesses. They should work for the public good. There should be no profit motive. Sanitation, food safety and security, outbreak surveillance and control, and disease prevention are public services that government should provide. Health care should benefit patients, doctors, and those who service the provision and administration of public health goals—not corporate entities.
From a One Health perspective, the role of government should be to protect, improve, and defend the health and well-being of all species within their borders. To achieve these goals, governments should establish and enforce laws that ensure clean air, pure water, rich soil, and intact wilderness areas to promote biodiversity and preservation of natural resources.
To maintain legitimacy, governments require public trust. In the U.S., public trust in government has been declining for over half a century since the war in Vietnam and the Watergate scandal. Trust in science has been declining as well. The anti-vaccination movement has opened a Pandora's box. False accusations against the measles vaccine has contributed to a worsening measles outbreak in Texas. Public trust has been further eroded from the cover-up of the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic to the poor handling of the pandemic itself. These blunders have contributed to a backlash against science and public health. The Trump Administration has slashed funding for NIH research overhead which could cost billions of dollars to universities. Biomedical research funding could be at risk of losing additional funding.
International funding and oversight are important. The Trump Administration's withdrawal from the World Health Organization and cutting critical USAID funding jeopardizes global health. Global health requires international goodwill, open communication, and respectful cooperation. Microbes do not respect political borders and can spread as fast as jets can fly.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and One Health
Recognizing the critical role that governments play in national and international health, in 2012, United Nations delegates developed 17 Sustainable Development Goals that aimed to reduce hunger, improve health, and protect national resources, among other issues by 2030. Since 2016, the UN has issued annual SDG reports. One hundred and ninety-three UN Member nations have been receiving SDG report cards that evaluate their governments' progression or regression towards achieving the SDGs.
In late 2024/early 2025, I had the pleasure of visiting four Southeast Asian countries: Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. I recently published an article in PEAH—Policies for Equitable Access to Health—in which I examined the UN SDGs, using a One Health approach, by profiling these countries. The link to the article is here.