December 2013


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The UWI’s School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) in Trinidad is the only veterinary school within the region that directly trains English-speaking Caribbean nationals to become veterinary surgeons. The SVM is located on the same site as the schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Pharmacy and Advanced Nursing Education at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.

Because of their expertise, veterinarians play critical roles in the health of animals, humans, and even the environment. Veterinary medicine is the only profession that routinely operates at the interface of these three components of One Health. About two-thirds (60.3 %) of emerging infectious diseases result from zoonoses; the majority of these have their origin in wildlife (71.8%) and have been increasing in recent years. Veterinarians, regardless of their field of practice, all play a significant role in human health and animal health.

The majority of Caribbean islands and territories are small, resource-poor and have little capacity to respond to human, animal, zoonotic and plant disease outbreaks. This lack of capacity, combined with the high burden of human, animal and plant infectious diseases, clearly point towards the relevance of pursuing a One Health approach. The high burden of animal and zoonotic infectious disease across the region makes the plant, animal and human populations, as well as the tourism-dependent Caribbean economies, extremely vulnerable. A One Health approach can be used to develop strategies to survey, predict and respond to food and water-borne disease outbreaks that threaten public health and tourism, which is the most important industry in the Caribbean.

The One Health concept is a strategy for expanding interdisciplinary collaborations and communications in all aspects of health care for humans, animals and the environment and is recognized as a best practice by international health organisation around the world. The threat to people, wildlife and domestic animals across the world is increasing as climate change, human population growth and changing land use cause pathogens to emerge and spread. One Health seeks to promote, improve, and defend the health and well-being of all species by enhancing cooperation and collaboration amongst physicians, veterinarians, other health and environmental professionals by promoting leadership and management to achieve these goals.

Dr Chris Oura is a Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Virology, School of Veterinary Medicine, UWI.