EndocrinologyOn The Global Front Lines - Veterinarians From Around The World Gather For Global Health Summit
Even as our global population rises, our world is getting smaller. International travel by both people and animals from all corners of the world occurs every hour of every day, bringing both into contact with each other.
While such rapid movement has increased global trade and has helped build powerful economies in countries both large and small, it has also helped spread disease. That"s why the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is hosting its first-ever Global Health Summit: A Call to Action to the U.S. Veterinary Profession at its 146th Annual Convention July 11-14 in Seattle, Wash.
The summit, which is being organized by the newly formed AVMA Committee on International Veterinary Affairs, brings together veterinary and public health experts from around the world in an effort to spread the message that veterinarians are critical players in the fight against disease, both locally and internationally. Their role in helping prevent, control, treat and eradicate these diseases is only going to grow. And their services are going to be needed both at home and abroad.
Two recent examples of how diseases spread so quickly reinforce the fact that the world needs to take notice.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 100 countries have officially reported more than 50,000 cases of 2009 H1N1 flu, including more than 200 deaths. Believed to have begun in Mexico, the virus outbreak quickly spread to places as far away as Australia, China and the United Kingdom.
Or take a look at H5N1 avian influenza. According to the WHO, the current outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza, which began in Southeast Asia in 2003, "are the largest and most severe on record. Never before in the history of this disease have so many countries been simultaneously affected."
"The spread of the 2009 H1N1 and H5N1 viruses help us illustrate the potential of endemic diseases to become a pandemic," said Dr. W. Ron DeHaven, chief executive officer of the American Veterinary Medical Association. "The dispersal of both of these diseases clearly shows that our world is susceptible to the massive spread of disease, and veterinarians need to be on the front lines to help us keep them in check."
Dr. Bernard Vallat, director general of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and a summit speaker, said it will take a unified international effort to protect global health.
"In this day and age, we can no longer rely exclusively on the public sector - on governments - to control and eradicate diseases; this has to be done jointly between the public sector and the relevant private sector," he said. "With 75 percent of emerging diseases in humans being of animal origin, efficient veterinary medicine is key in the new context of globalization and climatic change. It is why the OIE proposes that the implementation of the one-health concept be led by the veterinary community."
Global Health Summit participants will explore what they are doing in regard to global health and how veterinarians can help make the world a safer, healthier place. The program lineup includes more than a dozen presentations over two days conducted by such influential organizations as the AVMA, the World Organisation for Animal Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization and the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges.
Topics covered will range from veterinary education and its role in the global environment to how animals and people interact in the spread of disease, the importance of global partnerships in enhancing health and fighting disease, and global disaster response.
"The recent outbreaks of H1N1, and even avian influenza, clearly reveal that disease can be spread very rapidly as a result of fast and sophisticated transportation," said Dr. Sayed Safi, president and chief executive officer of the Afghanistan Veterinary Association (AVA). "It is necessary for all countries and all professionals to be aware of this situation and be ready."
The AVA is a relatively new organization, and it is the first - and only - professional association in Afghanistan. Safi said advancing veterinary medicine in the war-ravaged country is critical, especially when the majority of the Afghan people rely on agriculture for their economic and social well-being. He"ll share those challenges during the Global Health Summit and will talk about how Afghan veterinarians and livestock producers have benefited from partnerships formed with animal-health organizations around the world.
"We just left 30 years of continuous war behind, and I think others will be interested to know how the veterinarians in this country fulfilled their professional obligation during war, severe drought, the absence of any central and provincial government, and the complete lack of awareness of farmers about the importance of veterinary services," he said.
Animal health, according to Dr. Terry Wollen, director of livestock advocacy at Heifer International, always starts at the local level and relies heavily on indigenous knowledge. Heifer International receives many requests from veterinarians and veterinary students to join its field programs and to share their experience and skills, Wollen said. But helping out means understanding the challenges, the opportunities, the people and the process.
"Heifer has learned after many years of working with families of limited means in many countries around the world that we develop the most sustainable results of our community and livestock development work when we take a local approach," Wollen said. "This is somewhat difficult for those coming from the outside to understand."
Lasting development, he said, is built around specific principles that include the participation of the local people, the commitment of local res and the concept of development as a "process" and "not a series of projects."
"In a veterinary context, this means that we look at local s of veterinary support before we bring training and services in from outside," Wollen said. "This is the global awareness that needs to be cultivated before we can begin to share our own veterinary experience. Those who attend our program will learn about our community-based animal health care systems in areas where private veterinary services are not available."
Whether local or international, large or small, it will take a global effort to advance animal and human health in our ever-shrinking world, and the AVMA"s DeHaven says now is the time to capture global attention.
"We are learning each day how important a concerted effort is in ensuring global health in every species," DeHaven said. "Animals and humans are inextricably linked when it comes to disease, and veterinarians have been working on diseases of public health significance for more than 100 years. While that gives us a great track record of success, we need to continue to improve our efforts through veterinary education, international partnerships and global awareness."
American Veterinary Medical Association