Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, November 24th, 2014. On Tuesday, November 10th, the University of the West Indies School of Veterinary Medicine, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations launched a new programme designed to enable and empower professionals from the health, agriculture and environment sectors to play leadership roles on cross sectoral issues in Caribbean countries.
The first module, “Introduction to One Health,” was held at the Rex Resorts Turtle Beach Hotel in Tobago from November 11th to 13th, 2014. Thirty five professionals from the health, agriculture and environmental sectors participated from thirteen Caribbean countries: Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St.Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.
“One Health” refers to an interdisciplinary approach to minimizing harms and maximizing benefits from the co-management of human, animal and environmental health. This approach is aimed at developing more efficient and effective strategies to address health issues at the human - animal - environment interface.
The One Health approach to identifying the root causes of intersectoral issues requires input and intervention by multidisciplinary teams. The complexity of the issue necessitates a collaborative approach among professionals from multiple disciplines for the design of effective interventions. The introductory workshop provided unique opportunities for participants to learn from experienced leaders and content experts and well as to learn from each other to foster a shared vision of One Health in the Caribbean. The workshop emphasised applications of information and learning by doing.
International facilitators included Dr. Craig Stephen, Executive Director of the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre, Dr. David Waltner-Toews, Professor Emeritus of the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph and Founding President of Veterinarians without Borders Canada and of the Network for Ecosystem Sustainability and Health, and Dr. Roderick King, Executive Director of the Florida Institute for Health Innovation and Instructor in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
The Leadership Series includes 4 themed modules over a period of two years, in various Caribbean locations. Each module incorporates didactic presentations, problem based group discussions, field trips to highlight and analyse relevant One Health issues, as well as facilitated leadership development sessions. The next module on Food Security and Food Safety will take place in Jamaica in June 2015.
Besides attending the 4 workshops, the Caribbean One Health Leaders will form national One Health working groups and design and implement small scale One Health projects. Mentors will be assigned to each project to provide advice and guidance to the Leaders.
The One Health Leadership Series is sponsored by the European Union ACP Secretariat through the UWI project “One Health One Caribbean One Love” as well as the 10th EDF Project “Support to the Forum of Caribbean States in the implementation of the commitments undertaken under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA): Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)” executed by the IICA.
