Beyond spillover infections and AMR to environment and finance
Cape Town, South Africa hosted the 8th World One Health Congress from 20th-23rd of September 2024. More than 1400 participants heard from 350 speakers on topics across the One Health spectrum. This was the first time that the congress had been held on the continent of Africa and the importance of One Health for Africa was emphasised from the opening keynote lecture.
Cape Town was also the host city of the 39th World Veterinary Association Congress in April of this year so it has been a big year for Dr Paul van der Merwe whose duties included reviewing some of the 600 posters that were on display at the Congress. On two evenings refreshments were served in the poster display areas and poster authors were on hand to speak to their presentations. Dr Mark Schipp, Chair of the WVA One Health Working Group presented a poster on veterinary medicine and community engagement strategies.
There were presentations and posters on all aspects of One Health. An early theme was the need to embed environmental health in One Health and to consider inclusion of plant health. The contribution of One Health to biosecurity and biosafety was also emphasised with so many pathogens of animal origin able to be weaponised. The 2020 congress had to be held virtually due to COVID pandemic so naturally there was significant space given to consideration of prevention of spillover, prevention and preparedness for the next pandemic and how we can integrate surveillance.
Antimicrobial resistance remains one of the great One Health issues. Sessions considered risk factors driving AMR, surveillance in humans, animals and the environment, and antimicrobial stewardship.
As anyone who works in the One Health space can testify, it can be difficult to get funding support for one health programs even where there is a clear benefit from funding prevention and integrated surveillance. Several sessions dealt with the economic aspects of One Health and there were also useful sessions on engaging with the media and tips on how to make impactful presentations.
Dr Deborah Thomson who chairs the World Veterinary Association’s One Health Education Subgroup gave a presentation on One Health education and chaired a session on this topic.
