The way our educational system teaches future medical and veterinary professionals about animals has a significant impact on how they approach health, welfare, and environmental challenges. Despite an increasing recognition of the deep connections between human and nonhuman animal health, many educational programs fail to fully address these links. This article discusses five essential points that clinicians should understand about animals and their role in global health and environmental sustainability.

1. Animals matter for their own sakes. The authors argue that all sentient beings, including many nonhuman animals, deserve moral consideration due to their capacity to experience pleasure and pain. Yet, industries like factory farming and deforestation still treat animals like objects, leading to the deaths of billions to trillions of individuals each year.
2. How animals are treated impacts global health. Factory farms pose a global health threat. With animals kept in crowded, stressful conditions and often given antibiotics to suppress disease and promote growth, they create ideal environments for new diseases to emerge and spread. Likewise, deforestation puts global health at risk by increasing human contact with wild animals and disrupting ecosystems, which boosts the spread of diseases like malaria.
3. How animals are treated affects the environment. The authors detail some well-documented environmental harms caused by these industries. Animal agriculture alone produces about 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, mainly in the form of methane and nitrous oxide. Deforestation, a key driver of climate change, reduces forests’ ability to absorb carbon, further accelerating global warming.
4. Global health and environmental threats harm animals. Not only do these industries threaten global health and the environment in their mistreatment of animals, but the threats they create then cause further harm to animals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, many animals were harmed or killed due to increased neglect and disruptions in supply chains. Climate change is making things worse, causing more extreme weather, rising sea levels, and floods, which endanger both human and nonhuman animals.
5. Medical and veterinary research and education still harm animals. While live animal use in medical teaching has decreased, U.S. biomedical research still uses 15 to 25 million animals annually, even though humane alternatives like human cells and computer models are available. Similarly, veterinary schools have reduced “terminal” surgeries (surgeries that end in the death of the animal), but animals are still used in veterinary research. Additionally, the authors note, many schools continue to feature animal products like meat and dairy on their menus, despite the growing availability of plant-based alternatives.

The article provides several practical steps for improving medical and veterinary education, which animal advocates may be interested in advancing. First, the authors call for schools to introduce courses and materials that highlight the importance of animal welfare and how human and nonhuman animal health are linked, using frameworks like One Health. Other suggestions include:

• Faculty should be encouraged to include relevant topics in existing classes through their choice of books, articles, and speakers;
• Schools should reduce the use of animals in research and promote alternatives like computer models and human cells;
• More plant-based food options should be offered in school and hospital cafeterias that are both humane and sustainable; and
• Clinicians should engage in public outreach to educate the broader public on the links between human and nonhuman animal health and the need for policies that protect both.

As the authors assert, there’s an urgent need to improve how medical and veterinary students learn about animals, public health, and the environment. By incorporating animal welfare and the broader impacts of industries like factory farming into education, future clinicians will be better equipped to address global health and environmental challenges. The article outlines practical steps in education, research, and public outreach, aiming to create a more holistic approach that benefits both human and nonhuman animals.