President Barry pointed out that Rotarians save lives all over the world through having nearly eradicating polio, and many sanitation and water projects, for example.
What we are getting better at, is understanding the interaction between humans, animals and the environment, and he used the example of a recently introduced disease of bats in the USA which has caused very high numbers of deaths. As each bat eats up to 4 million mosquitoes every night, the loss of bat numbers has led to rapidly increasing number of mosquitoes, which in turn has caused a rise in malaria infections, and these are showing increased resistance to antimalarial medications.
We need to keep hammering away at the AMR message – hand washing, vaccination, and careful use of antibiotics, not only in humans but also in animal production systems and aquaculture.
We will be “walking the talk” at the Jacaranda Festival this year promoting hand sanitation in the food area and the animal petting zoo, with the invaluable assistance of Pharmacy 777’s donation of hand sanitation dispensers.
Barry and Margaret are also visiting Canberra in early October to meet Australia’s Chief Vet, Rotarian Mark Schipp, and District Governor Elect Michael Moore. He is a former health Minister for the ACT, and a national leader in Public Health. Our Honorary Member Ben Morton will join in the discussions aimed at starting an international Rotary Action Group.
We haven’t heard the last of AMR or One Health!
Connected
Human, animal and environmental health are strongly linked.
Collaborate
A multi-disciplinary approach can help identify, prevent and manage common issues.
Change
By working together across sectorsand borders, the health of people, animals and the environment can be improved.