Role of Veterinarians in the Development of One Health
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Role of Veterinarians in the Development of One Health

One Health” refers to “the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals and our environment

Post by RK News on Friday, June 2, 2023

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WORLD VETERINARY DAY 2023

 

DR ZUBAIR AHMAD AKHOON|DR MUZAFFAR SHAHEEN| DR WANI KHALID

 

World Veterinary Day is a significant event that highlights the crucial role that veterinarians play in protecting the health and welfare of animals and people worldwide. The day provides an opportunity to recognize the invaluable contributions of veterinary professionals in ensuring food safety, preventing the spread of zoonotic diseases, and promoting animal welfare. It’s a day set aside to honor and appreciate veterinarians’ work to advance the Health and welfare of humans and animals. It is celebrated around the world through various activities such as seminars, workshops, public lectures, pet health clinics and social media campaigns. In addition to celebrations and events organized by veterinary associations and organizations around the world, the World Veterinary Association (WVA), a non-profit organization that represents the veterinary profession globally, with a mission to promote animal health and welfare, as well as public health, also presents the World Veterinary Day Awards to honour individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to veterinary medicine and animal welfare.

 

One of the most important aspects of World Veterinary Day is its ability to raise public awareness about the vital work that veterinarians do and to promote public appreciation for the profession. Many people are unaware of the many roles that veterinarians play, from working with pets and livestock to conducting research on emerging infectious diseases. Further, World Veterinary Day also serves as a forum for veterinary professionals to come together and share ideas and experiences. It provides an opportunity to discuss important issues facing the veterinary profession globally, such as the need to promote diversity, equity, and inclusiveness, enhance veterinary resilience, and respond to emerging public health threats.

 

World Veterinary Day was first celebrated on April 29, 2000, as an initiative by the WVA. Since then, it has been observed annually on the last Saturday of April, with a different theme chosen each year, which is intended to reflect current issues and challenges facing the veterinary profession globally. The themes are designed to promote awareness, education, and action on topics related to animal health, welfare, and public health. This year the theme for World Veterinary Day 2023 was “Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness in the Veterinary Profession.” The purpose of this theme is to highlight the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusiveness in the veterinary profession and to encourage actions to promote these values. The theme recognizes that a diverse and inclusive veterinary profession is essential to ensure that the profession is representative of the communities it serves and can provide the best possible care for all animals. Removing barriers and improving inclusiveness through diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and practices, in a diverse world, needs a special focus.

 

Diversity in the veterinary workplace is all about creating an inclusive environment, acknowledging the strength of each individual employee, and breaking down barriers. Encouraging representation and welcoming a broad range of perspectives benefits staff, patients, and business alike. The overall well being of all veterinarians is enhanced when diversity, equity, and inclusion is promoted and applied.

 

 

 

Role of Veterinarians in “One Health”

One Health” refers to “the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals and our environment. One Health is the process of the improvement of health and wellbeing through the prevention of risks and the mitigation of effects of crises that originate at the interface between humans, animals and their environment. The idea of One Health acknowledges the interdependence of human, animal, and environmental health (One Health triad).

 

Veterinarians & Veterinary Profession is one of the key components in the development of One Health. The role of veterinarians in support of One Health can be categorized as Direct or Indirect. The direct approach to disease investigation and control is exemplified by multidisciplinary teams which come together in the field to work side-by-side in solving an emerging disease problem. The indirect approach occurs when veterinarians work on a component of a One Health problem and share the results through information exchange. It is research based. Most disease outbreaks/epidemics are investigated by a combination of the direct and indirect approaches with several types of multidisciplinary teams being assembled for different aspects of the investigation. This is probably the most common approach to practicing One Health today. The individual teams may represent only part of the One Health triad, such as veterinarians working with physicians and microbiologists on vaccine development or veterinarians engaging wildlife biologists and entomologists to determine the ecology of disease reservoirs and vectors.  Sometimes, collaborative work components may focus solely on public outreach and education.

 

The production of a safe and reliable source of food from “farm to fork” involves thousands of veterinarians around the world; the human-animal interface may not be obvious, but it exists. From clinical treatment of individual animals using the appropriate antibiotics on the farm to zoonotic diseases surveillance activities in free ranging wildlife, One Health is being practiced each and every day. Even the daily activities of a veterinarian like vaccinating a dog against rabies is One Health in action, even though it may not be recognized as such. Other roles and responsibilities of veterinarians in One Health are as:

  • Human health – reduce global hunger, control zoonosis, monitor food ,quality and safety, biomedical research, disease surveillance, biosecurity, human-animal bond maintaining companion animal health.
  • Domestic animal health – promote animal welfare, prevent disease outbreaks, increase domestic animal production for food, increase and support animal product exports, disease surveillance, diagnosis and control, provide clinical and population health expertise for all animals, combating antimicrobial resistance.
  • Ecological health – protect biodiversity, management of wildlife resources, control movement of exotic species and diseases, disease prevention in wild animal population, disease surveillance, conservation of natural resources, conservation medicine, climate change adaptation activities.

 

One Health approach to outbreaks of disease attracts great attention from scientists, the public, and government, the major contribution of veterinarians to One Health lies in their day-to-day routine activities. The One Health initiative has been welcomed by veterinary profession. No profession is better qualified, through history and training, than the veterinary profession to promote the interdisciplinary approach of One Health and to be a leader in implementing it precepts.

Because of their crucial role in animal welfare, public health, environmental preservation and one health, veterinarians are helping to create a more sustainable future for all of us.

 

As a part of the Veterinary Community SKUAST Kashmir also celebrated the world Veterinary day in the premises of Veterinary Faculty Shuhama, SKUAST Kashmir on 29th April (Saturday). Different forms of activities to celebrate this event were organized. Online quiz competition organized for students of veterinary faculty and Clinical camp for farmers of the catchment area including the pet vaccination were the main activities.    

 

(Dr Zubair Ahmad Akhoon is Senior Assistant Professor Division of Veterinary Medicine, Shuhama, SKUAST Kashmir, Dr Muzaffar Shaheen is Professor and Head, Division of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, SKUAST Kashmir and Dr Wani Khalid, MVSc Scholar, Division of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology, SKUAST Kashmir)

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