The interdependence of society, environment and health and its relevance for societal development

The relationship between society, environment, and health is governed by values that relate to targets as well as to the process leading there. Health scientists have to obey these universal rules and regulations on how to promote change. Given limited resources, scientists have also to calculate cost and benefit but it is the state to ensure the fundamental human right to live a healthy life under suitable conditions. Taking into account the "Preventive Paradoxon" introduced by Geoffrey Rose and the mandate for public health accredited to the European Commission in the Maastricht Treaty on European Union, progress is to be achieved bottom-up and topdown. Science can help to find the right balance through careful analysis and monitoring but this is no longer a medical domain on its own; it is linked to all societal sectors. The structure to investigate this field is the modern School of Public Health, attached to universities and reaching out to relevant institutions. Four deficits have to be overcome, the information deficit as well as the social deficit, the preventive deficit, and the regulatory deficit. Training for research and serving the health of populations is a mission well worth the effort. The One Health concept offers a unique current framework. For the development of health, it is vital to learn from each other in the belief that health and knowledge know no barriers.