PREZODE on Air

On May 23, RFI (Radio France Internationale) dedicated its broadcast of Priorité Santé to the theme: “One Health: prevention of emerging diseases and the importance of global health”. The topic was of great significance, in line with the Global Health agenda, as the World Organisation for Animal Health Assembly was held in Paris while the World Health Assembly World Health Organization gathered professionals from all over the world in Geneva. The journalist Caroline Paré invited representatives of PREZODE members to address the topic.

Pr. Magda Robalo, public health Physician, President of the Institute for Global Health and Development, former Minister of Health of Guinea Bissau, and now Member of the PREZODE Steering Committee, underlined the importance of a multidisciplinary approach, bringing all health specialists together, to succeed in preventing spillovers. Dr. Herman Claeys, Veterinarian for the Federal Public Service of Public Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment of Belgium and delegate of Belgium to WHOA, and Dr. Hung Nguyen Viet, Co-director of the Animal and Human Health Program at International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and lead of CGIAR initiative on One Health and food systems, raised the issue of AMR. They recalled how the use of antibiotics for livestock affects animal, human, and environmental health in the long run. There has been a significant reduction in the use of antibiotics in many countries, but there is still a gap between the North and the South, due to different regulations and insufficient veterinarian controls.

Dr. Flavie Goutard, Veterinarian and epidemiologist, a specialist in sanitary risks at CIRAD, with the National Veterinary Research Institute of Vietnam, emphasized the crucial need to involve the population and communities to co-design solutions so they can adhere to public health policies.

The 4 speakers insisted on the importance of a permanent science-society-political dialog.

From left to right: Dr. Hung Nguyen Viet, Co-director of the Animal and Human Health Program at ILRI and lead of CGIAR initiative on One Health and food systems, Caroline Paré, journalist, producer of Priorité Santé, and  Dr. Herman Claeys, Veterinarian for the Federal Public Service of Public Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment of Belgium and delegate of Belgium to WHOA -©C.Dernis/PREZODE