Title : One health and its practical implementation in Ethiopia
Abstract:
One Health is a modern global movement to promote collaborative efforts between different health related professionals, including medical doctors, veterinarians and many other scientific, health, environmental and other related disciplines. Although there is not an agreed One Health definition, a useful one is; “the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals and our environment. The importance of the program is increasing as the expansion of human and animal populations, ecological changes due to human impact and climate variations, and technological advancements facilitating global human, animal, and product movements have resulted in an increased risk of disease transmission between animals and people. It embraces the idea that a disease problem impacting the health of humans, animals, and the environment can only be solved through improved communication, cooperation, and collaboration across disciplines and institutions [1]. The aim of One Health is to improve health and well-being through the prevention of risks and the mitigation of effects of crises that originates at the interface between humans, animals and their various environments [2]. Cause of treatment failure in animals and humans attributable to antimicrobial resistance arising from the use of antimicrobial agents in food-producing animals or companion animals is a serious concern for public health [3].The areas of work in which a One Health approach is particularly relevant include food safety, the control of zoonosis (diseases that can spread between animals and humans, such as flu, rabies and Rift Valley Fever), and combating antibiotic resistance (when bacteria change after being exposed to antibiotics and become more difficult to treat. One Health for Central and Eastern Africa (OHCEA) is a network of universities in Central, West and Eastern Africa which are collaborating to build One Health capacity and academic partnerships in the region. OHCEA membership includes twenty-four Central, West and Eastern Africa Schools of Public Health, Veterinary Medicine and Environmental Science; and US partner institutions: University of Minnesota (UMN) and Tufts University. The current OHCEA membership spans eight countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, and Senegal, working together to strengthen public health education, systems, emergency preparedness and response (www.ohcea. org)
