IN this concluding article, I want to share my perspective on addressing zoonotic outbreaks through a One Health approach. Previously, we discussed the role of veterinary services, focusing on managing zoonotic outbreaks and the importance of preparedness and response. We’ve recognized the critical need for coordination between the human health, environmental, and animal health sectors, though experience shows this coordination can be challenging. I’ll also address some of these challenges.
The World Organisation for Animal Health outlines what it considers the veterinary domain, encompassing all activities related to animals, their products, and by-products, which contribute to the protection, maintenance, and improvement of human health and welfare. This domain includes not only animal health and welfare but also food safety.
This article aims to clarify this concept, starting with the role of animals—livestock, companion animals, and wildlife—in the transmission of infectious diseases. When these diseases are passed between animals and humans, they are classified as zoonoses. In processing livestock into food, we must consider the implications of slaughtering, processing, and trading animal products. Beyond food, these activities also generate non-food products, by-products, and waste, raising concerns about antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms. The global transport of animal products and live animals for trade further complicates the situation, as it increases the risk of importing diseases, residues, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) from trading partners. These added risks demand crucial activities within the veterinary domain, including import risk analysis, border inspections, quarantine, and certification systems to ensure integrity throughout the process.
In summary, live animals can transmit zoonoses to humans, and the entire chain from animal breeding to product processing presents additional concerns about residues and AMR. These threats are within the veterinary domain, addressed through the One Health approach, which includes programmatic activities like prevention, control, and eradication, as well as procedures such as authorizing and inspecting animal processing plants and enforcing animal welfare standards. However, this is not all; the system also requires adequate human and financial resources, quality veterinary education, effective laboratory services, and supporting legislation.
Despite the World Organisation for Animal Health’s broad definition of veterinary services—including activities from both the public and private sectors—the organization of these services varies widely across countries. Veterinary authorities, usually government bodies within the Ministry of Agriculture and headed by the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO), oversee and direct these services, safeguarding international standards and guidelines defined in the Terrestrial Codes for Terrestrial and Aquatic Animal Health. Veterinary services can be broadly divided into public and private sectors.
Private sector services include veterinary practitioners who work in clinics, providing care to pets, and serving as herd advisors on animal disease prevention, antimicrobial use, and animal welfare for livestock. This is known as herd health management. Public sector services, managed by the veterinary authority, are responsible for national disease control plans, such as keeping the country free from foot-and-mouth disease and brucellosis. Veterinary public health, another critical public sector role, involves contributions to improving human health through food safety systems, disease surveillance, and zoonotic disease control.
—The writer is contributing columnist.
