Veterinary Public Health' Importances !!!

Quite curious about how important the "Veterinary Public Health" section is, so the results are...

Veterinary public health (VPH)

(taken from WHO official website)

Veterinary Public Health (VPH) was defined by the WHO consultation on "future trends in veterinary public health" held in Teramo, Italy in 1999 as "the sum of all contributions to the physical, mental and social well-being of humans through an understanding and application of veterinary science".

Human health is inextricably linked to animal health and production. This link between human and animal populations, and with the surrounding environment, is particularly close in developing regions where animals provide transportation, draught power, fuel and clothing as well as proteins (meat, eggs and milk). In both developing and industrialized countries, however, this can lead to a serious risk to public health with severe economic consequences. A number of communicable diseases (known as zoonoses) are transmitted from animals to humans. Veterinary medicine has a long and distinguished history of contributing to the maintenance and promotion of public health.

Zoonoses and public health

About 75% of the new diseases that have affected humans over the past 10 years have been caused by pathogens originating from an animal or from products of animal origin. Many of these diseases have the potential to spread through various means over long distances and to become global problems.

In addition a number of well known and preventable animal diseases that can be transmitted to humans (i.e. zoonoses) such as rabies, brucellosis, leishmaniasis and echinococcosis continue to occur in many countries especially in the developing world where they mostly affect the poorest segment of the human population. They cause a serious amount of deaths and millions of affected people every year.

All major zoonotic diseases prevent the efficient production of food of animal origin, particularly of much-needed proteins, and create obstacles to international trade in animals and animal products. They are thus an impediment to overall socioeconomic development. From way back veterinary medicine played a major role in the preventing of and interventions against animal diseases including zoonoses.

Core domains

The core domains of VPH include the following: diagnosis, surveillance, epidemiology, control, prevention and elimination of zoonoses; food protection; management of health aspects of laboratory animal facilities and diagnostic laboratories; biomedical research; health education and extension; and production and control of biological products and medical devices. Other VPH core domains may include management of domestic and wild animal populations, protection of drinking-water and the environment, and management of public health emergencies.

Veterinary public health is an essential part of public health and includes various types of cooperation between the disciplines that link the health triad, people-animals-environment, and all of its interactions.

Current Public Health Concerns

Emerging and re-emerging diseases including foodborne illnesses are now a significant public health concern. According to the United Nation’s World Health Organisation (WHO), about 75 percent of the new diseases that have affected humans in the past 10 years are caused by pathogens of animal origin. This has resulted in a global increased awareness of the close interdependence between animal health and human health.

These include not only new diseases such as Mad Cow Disease, Nipah virus in pigs in Malaysia, SARS in wildlife, HIV and avian influenza but re-emerging diseases such as West Nile virus, Japanese encephalitis, and tuberculosis as well as foodborne diseases such as Streptococcus suis, Salmonellosis, Campylobacteriosis and E. coli O157. Furthermore, other food related issues, such as resistance to antimicrobials, have also become an issue of increasing concern for animal production and human health. Common to these emerging problems have been new trends in animal production practices, increased centralised processing of animal products, globalisation of the food industry, changing patterns of wildlife populations and their disease vectors and demographic changes in the human population.

Relevance of Veterinary Input

Veterinarians, due to their ability to link the health of the animal and human populations, are in an ideal position to address the concerns outlined above. They possess the broadest combination of knowledge and skills in the inter-disciplinary ‘farm to fork” public health team.

Veterinarians, because of their knowledge of animal diseases and food production, as well as their training in ecological, economic and human cultural issues, have become leaders in developing and implementing new methods of promoting sustainable public health which are ecosystemically-grounded, culturally feasible, and economically realistic. In fact the term ‘herd health’ is a metaphor for ‘community health’.

Veterinarians are involved in all aspects of food safety and public health activities, e.g. monitoring of livestock farms and animal marketing, control of slaughter and processing of animal products, importation and quarantine of animals and animal products, overseeing transport and distribution, risk assessment and communication, disease monitoring, (especially zoonotic diseases), vector control programmes, monitoring of wildlife diseases and urban animal control.

Veterinary input and control of major disease control programmes has resulted in the successful eradication of many zoonotic diseases e.g. bovine tuberculosis, brucellosis, rabies, trichinellosis and echinococcosis in many countries. The most poignant example to Hong Kong has been the control of avian influenza. Hong Kong’s envied status in the region has been a direct result of veterinary advice and policy implementation.

The Role of Veterinarians in Public Health in Other Countries

Veterinarians, both as policy makers and managers of public health programs, have been employed in government departments and public health agencies worldwide including international agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

The public health and food safety structures in many countries are directed by veterinarians. Singapore’s Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, which has complete responsibility for food safety and agriculture is managed by veterinarians. An organisation chart for the AVA and the French Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is attached for reference. Similar veterinary responsibility for food safety is also seen in other EU countries and also Mainland China (taken from legco.gov )

Knowing all of these facts makes me proud of being a-veterinarian-to-be! long live Veterinarian, long live Veterinary Public Health!! ^___^v

Anyway, this is my new family, Food Hygiene Section of Veterinary Public Health Laboratory, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Gadjah Mada University (well, though it's not perfect, not everyone appear on this photo) :