The Pearl River Declaration: a timely call for enhancing health security through fostering a regional one health collaboration in the Asia-Pacific

The Second International Symposium on One Health Research (ISOHR) was held in Guangzhou city, China on 23–24 November 2019. A transdisciplinary collaborative approach, One Health (OH), was the central theme of the symposium which brought together more than 260 experts, scholars and emerging researchers from human health, veterinary health, food safety, environmental health and related disciplines and sectors. More than 50 organizations including World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control (USA), and Queensland Government (Australia) participated in the symposium. Scholars, experts and emerging researchers, policy-makers and practitioners in their respective fields delivered over 50 presentations at the symposium, highlighting the collective vulnerability to some of the emerging health challenges the region was combating. These included emerging infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, climate change, food safety and the growing burden of non-communicable diseases. The Pearl River Declaration, emanated from the symposium, called for establishing a One Health Cooperation Network in the Southeast Asia–Pacific region with a vision to strengthen regional health security through sharing each other’s knowledge and experience, and making investments in workforce development, scientific innovations such as vaccine research and development, sharing epidemic intelligence, risk identification, risk communication and appropriate response measures against emerging health threats.