Good health does not just concern the well-being of humans. The health of people, animals and the environment are actually interdependent.

An art competition entitled "One Health World Art Contest" is to be held to create better understanding and promote the importance of global health.

The contest is also organised as part of the 2013 Prince Mahidol Award Conference _ an annual international event hosted by the Royal Thai Government, the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation and other relevant international organisations.

The theme of this year's conference is "One Health: A World United Against Infectious Diseases _ Cross-sectoral Solutions" and the art contest is therefore based on this theme.

Dr Touch Ativitavas from the Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, said that when it comes to health, taking animals and the environment into account is one way we can prevent ourselves from getting diseases.

"[When we speak] of diseases, we usually think of doctors prescribing medicine to patients. Many times we forget the fact that things around us are also important contributing factors to the development of diseases," said Dr Touch.

Take dengue haemorrhagic fever, for example. It is a known fact, the doctor added, that dengue fever is primarily transmitted through the tropical Aedes mosquito. Therefore, cutting the mosquito cycle also means preventing dengue fever.

"It is without doubt that the development and transmission of several diseases has something to do with animals and the environment," the specialist said.

"One Health World Art Contest" is divided into two categories: two dimensional media, and digital video. The former involves paintings (oil, acrylics, watercolour), drawings (coloured pencil, pencil, ink, markers, pastels, charcoal), collage, prints (lithographs, silkscreen, block prints), mono-printing, etching and mixed media and is open to four age groups _ under nine years old, nine-13, 14-17 and 18-25. The digital video category is open to participants aged between 18-25 years old. The work must be in a MPEG4 format (no larger than 400MB) and must be either dubbed in English or with English subtitles.

The deadline for submission for initial selection is Nov 18. Notification of initial selection will be on Nov 30. After that, the submission of original works for final selection will be from Dec 1-10 and the winner will be announced on Dec 15. Awards include trophies and cash prizes.

For entry submission, visit www.pmaconference.mahidol.ac.th/artcontest.