The 7th Annual Global Campaign for this year’s International One Health Day has been held in Takoradi under the theme, Promoting One Health for Total Wellbeing And Sustainable Development.
For this reason, health professionals in their related disciplines and institutions are called on to work together to ensure that issues regarding one health are handled effectively.
Speaking at this year’s celebration, the Western Regional Minister Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah in a speech read for him by the Regional Coordinating Director, Frederick Agyeman said one health is an integrated approach for preventing and mitigating health threats at the animal, and human, plant and environment interfaces to achieve public health, food and nutrition, security, sustainable ecosystem and fair trade facilitation.
“Working together allows us to have the biggest impact on improving the health of people, animals and plants in our shared environment.
This cannot be achieved without putting the health and well-being of practitioners at the center of public policy.” He said.
He added that communication, coordination and collaboration among partners working in animal, human and environmental health as well as other relevant areas are an essential part of the one health approach.
Mr Agyeman noted that the celebration would help spread awareness by imparting information about health to the public.
He called for resilience societies that are better able to address health risks stemming from decisions in both health and non-health centres.
Mr Agyeman stated that the COVID-19 pandemic is a reminder that human and none human welfare are linked.
” One health is an integrated approach for preventing and mitigating health threats at the animal-human plant environment interfaces to achieve public health, food and nutrition security, sustainable ecosystems and fair trade facilitations, ” He said.
The Deputy Director of Surveillance of Ghana. Health Service, Dr Dennis Yalley said, stakeholders, need to build new bridges and strengthen existing ones to enable the one health concept to grow in the country.
Ghana Health Service, he said, continues to play a pivotal role towards achieving the mutual goal of sustained optimum health amongst people, the environment and animals.
“The Ghana Health Service is committed to ensuring public policy. One health is gaining grounds in Ghana and affords stakeholders the opportunity to build new bridges and strengthen existing ones so that the one health concept can grow formidable in the country,”
