Most veterinarians and veterinary students are aware of
the term “onehealth” (aka One Health and several other variations). For those
who haven’t, one health can be defined as “…the integrativeeffort of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally toattain optimal health for people, animals, and the environment.Together, the three make up the One Health triad,and the health ofeach is inextricably connected to the others in the triad.”
Alternatively,
according to the Centres for Disease Control, “The One Health concept
recognises that the health of humans is connected to the health of animals and
the environment”.
So
what is One Welfare? This newer phrase on the block is less well defined, but
essentially it requires us to consider the welfare of humans and non-human
animals simultaneously. For many readers this link will seem obvious, but when you think about the way human wellbeing and animal welfare are managed in real life, they're not always treated as being linked. One Welfare recognises that the welfare of animals and
the wellbeing of humans and societies are not mutually exclusive, and quite
often when you look deeper they’re inextricably intertwined.
According to Dr
Dale Douma, organiser of the inaugural international One Welfare conference, “When
the concept of this conference was presented at a One Health conference in
Switzerland it was clear that there was a need for social sciences to play a
more prominent role in One Health initiatives.”
One
Welfare is an umbrella under which experts in animal welfare can collaborate
with experts in “human” services – social work, psychology, public health and
so forth – to develop solutions that hopefully benefit the welfare and
wellbeing of all species.
The
conference Dr Douma refers to will be held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada,
from September 26 to 28. It will focus “on both the positive and negative
relationship between human and animal wellbeing.”
At
this point I should declare I will be speaking about the development OneWelfare teaching portal, which received an Office of Learning and Teaching
Grant and was led by Professor Paul McGreevy.
But
aside from teaching, the conference will be addressing what One Welfare looks
like in practice.
If
you work in the fields of human or animal welfare, attending this conference
will give you a chance to be part of setting the agenda for One Welfare. I may
be biased here, but I believe it is very important for as many of those working
with non-human animals as possible to have a seat at this table.
In
the words of Dr Douma, “We hope
that broad and active participation from those present will help to determine
specific and critical activities for those engaged in this area to work
on. Hopefully there will be the opportunity to have future meetings where
it will be possible to report back on successes and challenges encountered so
that the international community can learn from one another and move forward
more effectively.”
The conference dinner on
September 26th will be held at the new Canadian Museum of Human
Rights. The speaker is Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallairre, appointed Force Commander for
the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR). He witnessed the
country descend into chaos and genocide, leading to the deaths of more than
800,000 Rwandans. Ever since he has personally battled with post-traumatic
stress disorder and become an international leader on PTSD in the
Workplace.
In addition, delegates can
participate in a Psychological First Aid Course taught by the Canadian Red
Cross. This will focus both on training for first responders as well as
for those responsible for the care of employees in the workplace so that
staff are not put at undue risk for mental health trauma. This course is
being designed specifically for the participants of this event.
For
more information, visit this site. Earlybird rates are available until August 15.
