28 Sep 2023

 Animal production across the globe is threatened by diseases, says World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) Representative for Southern Africa, Dr Moetapele Letshwenyo.

Dr Letshwenyo said this at the ongoing four day 8th All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture. 

He said some of the diseases that were a challenge to animal production were specific to animals only while others could be shared between animals and humans.

“Sixty percent of infectious diseases affecting humans have their origins in animals and 75 percent of animal diseases can be transmitted to humans,” said.

Dr Letshwenyo said animal-specific diseases especially trans-boundary diseases caused economic devastation to countries through trade restrictions imposed when a disease outbreak occurred and this impacted directly on food production.

He said animal products such as meat, milk, eggs and others were also under threat of contamination from potential hazards arising during primary processing. 

This negatively impacted food security at household, national and regional levels, leading to unsafe food and compromises achievement of the health and wellbeing of people.

Dr Letshwenyo said ‘One Health’ approach was needed to manage zoonotic diseases.

“Key to the management of animal health emergencies is the ability to prevent, predict, detect early and respond rapidly to disease emergencies,” he said.

Explaining ‘One Health’ approach,’ Prof. Amanda Bastos of University of Pretoria said it was an integrated, unifying approach that aimed to sustainably balance and optimise the health of people, animals and ecosystem. 

He said ‘One Health’ recognised the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants and the wider environment as closely linked and inter-dependent.

Prof Bastos said WOAH implemented ‘One Health’ as a collaborative whole of society, whole of government approach to understanding, anticipating and addressing risks to global health.

 “The ‘One Health’ vision is a unifying force to safeguard human and animal health to reduce disease threats and to ensure a safe food supply through effective and responsible management of natural resources,” Prof Bastos said. ENDS