He emphasised upon the important role of the mayors and other sub-national leaders/officials in planning for development of community health status and well being.
"By strengthening communications, coordination and collaboration among human, animal and health experts we will be in a better position to put in place the preparedness, prevention, and response mechanism to deal with public health threats and crises and achieve better health resilience" he said.
While acknowledging that the risk of the animal-human interface is increasing due to environmental degradation, rapid urbanization and international travel and trade, Prof Tjandra Yoga Aditama, Senior Advisor at APCAT, was positive that all of us (humans, animals, plants, ecosystems) can coexist through the One Health approach.
Noting that "we already have the 'One Health Joint Plan of Action' developed by the 4 global agencies that have united to address antimicrobial resistance (these 4 agencies include: WHO, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)." The G20 Lombok One Health Policy Brief was recently delivered by the G20 Health Ministers, during a side event of the G20 meet held in Indonesia, he said: "These are grand concepts that must be translated into workable and implementable local policies. Local policies have significant and direct impacts on people. Media, civil society, academia, as well as the governments must work together to solve problems within the One Health Approach Framework."
Impact of climate change
Gongal rightly points out that climate change is a driver for emerging risks in food safety. "Its impact is more evident in food borne pathogens with low infective doses. The production of mycotoxins and bio toxins may be affected by temperature and moisture conditions. Extreme weather conditions also create stress in plants and pests. Thus changes in plant pests are expected, leading to increasing use of pesticides. Indiscriminate use of veterinary medicines in farm animals is leading to antimicrobial resistance creating resistant pathogens."
"Globalisation of food trade, changing food habits and intensification of food production is leading to the spread of human health conditions. Unhealthy agricultural practices, as well as vehicular emissions during transportation, contaminate the crops, livestock, and seafood. We need a holistic approach when we talk of from farm to fork. We cannot compromise on food safety in the name of food security", says Gongal.
One Health approach to curb antimicrobial resistance
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