Article
Empowering Veterinarians to Be Planetary Health Stewards Through ONE HEALTH Approach
Veterinarians are critical public health professionals. Veterinary practitioners across the globe, regardless of sector, are committed to promoting public health.
The nature of veterinary training inherently promotes an interdisciplinary approach to solving global health problems, including integrated use of public health practices such as disease detection, reporting, and surveillance, as well as health education and prevention. It is well established that the health of animals contributes to the health of humans, and vice versa, in multiple ways; by protecting against zoonotic disease, bolstering a sustainable food supply, fostering the human-animal bond, and preserving ecological systems.
We believe that involving veterinarians in decision-making has significant advantages over dealing with problems in health professional silos, as has been the case with coordinated human and animal zoonoses vaccination efforts, integrated diagnostic laboratory infrastructure, and integrated surveillance and response to disease outbreaks. The importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, including veterinarians, to solve global health problems has been exemplified with COVID-19.
The issue of climate change and its impact on planetary health is no different. The need for veterinarians to acknowledge climate change as within their scope of practice, redefine their roles in the climate change space, and take ownership and active roles as stewards of climate change adaptation and resilience. Climate change impacts the planet, public health and veterinary practice. Ultimately, climate change is a public health problem, veterinarians are public health professionals, and, thus, climate change and the promotion of planetary health are veterinary issues. However, these kinds of activities cannot be conducted within a vacuum, and support from cross-sector collaborations, stakeholders, and policy are critical for veterinarians to be effective stewards in these areas. Gaps must be bridged between veterinary practice and policy decision-making to ensure veterinarians are supported in public health capacities.
At Veterinarians International, we recognize the importance of the One Health approach: the health of people is closely connected to the health of animals and our shared environment. Policy makers must include the voices of veterinarians in their decision making process around climate agendas.
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13 w
True policy makers should include the voices of Veterinarians in the center stage of climate change dialogues for more solutions that you know better especially for wild animals which are very important in our biodiversity chain. Good work!
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15 w
Very interesting, just like doctors need to know about the impact of climate change on humans, it seems crucial that veterinarians who are at the forefront of seeing the impact of the climate crisis have an understanding of it as well. You're doing important work!
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14 w
@sarah_chabane Absolutely! Thanks for your feed Sarah!!!