One Health Day Celebrated at EPHI
Different stakeholders of the One Health (OH) gathered at the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) to celebrate the One Health Day under the motto “Towards a better health for humans, animals, and the ecosystems” on November 3, 2017.
Dr. Tsigereda Kifle, EPHI’s Deputy Director General on her opening speech emphasized that One Health is not a choice but it is a must.
“The prevention and control of emerging pandemic threats, zoonotic diseases and other public health events require a concerted effort of all relevant institutions and stakeholders. We should be able to break the barriers among agencies, individuals, specialties and sectors by strengthening collaborative multi-sectorial and multi-disciplinary approach to better understand and effectively respond to the many challenges of human, animal and environmental health. We must devise adaptive, forward-looking and multi-disciplinary solutions to the health challenges of our community which I believe is the central nervous system behind – One Health,” said Dr. Tsigereda.
On his closing remark, Dr. Aschalew Abayneh from Ministry of Health after appreciating the Steering Committee members and organizers of the celebration day he reminded that universities should also be included in the program and the Ministry is always ready to assist all regarding the issue.
On the celebration, presentations titled Defining One Health and Global Movement and Relevance of One Health to Ethiopia and National Initiatives were presented which were followed by panel discussions.
Ethiopia being one of the countries that embraces the OH approach, has officially established a National One Health Steering Committee drawn from Ministry of Health, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Ministry of Culture and Tourism,/Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority and Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change in 2016.