HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 1 (ACN) The coronavirus pandemic—that which has redesigned life and imposed changes the extent of which remains a question mark—has highlighted the intimate links between the health of humans, animals and our planet, according to Dr. Tedros Adhanom, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO).
He went even further, and warned that we do not know when the next disease will appear, a reality that we can only address with a "One Health" approach; in other words, with a view that takes into account the said trilogy, in which the human being is a bio-psycho-social being.
It was not by chance that Dr. Ileana Morales, National Director of Science and Technological Research of the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap), mentioned the topic during the meeting of the Western Scientific Park with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and Deputy Prime Minister Inés María Chapman Waugh.
Before scientists and experts in various fields, Ileana Morales presented the "One Health Approach in the national health strategy", a pressing need if we take into account, she said, the dangerous extent of health problems worldwide, which demand a more scientific, systemic and efficient approach based on more comprehensive policies.
She recalled that Cuba pioneered the studies about the impact of animal and environmental health on the human being. Since the 1970s, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz addressed that and other issues, and life has proved him right: scourges such as the Ebola or Zika viruses, cholera disease, or the most recent, COVID-19, have highlighted the value of foresightedness and the understanding that no single sector will be able to cope with ever-increasing challenges by itself.
Dr. Morales remarked that six out of every ten human diseases are of animal origin, and that by 2050 some ten million people will die from the effects of antimicrobial resistance related to the use and abuse of certain drugs.
That is precisely the reason for the One Health Approach in the national health strategy, she stressed, covering strategic areas such as epidemiological surveillance and diagnosis, zoonosis, and animal and plant diseases that tamper with antimicrobial resistance and food safety.
"One Health," she added, “is the strategy to achieve optimal levels of health among people, animals, plants and the environment through prevention, control and rapid response actions in the face of any danger through cross-sectional and multidisciplinary collaboration to streamline the use of the resources available in the country and guarantee the harmonious and sustainable development of society".
President Díaz-Canel referred to the proposal as an issue of great relevance and necessity "which will undoubtedly allow us to have a more comprehensive outlooks of the whole health problem". He also stressed the importance of the ways to articulate the links between entities and focus work on health.
“I also believe," he said, "that we must promote a communication strategy to make this approach known to people so that they can participate, as part of society, in everything we do in this sense for the benefit of better understanding, more participation, and greater transparency in everything we do in favor of this approach".
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