14th December 2016

The workshop’s focus was to discuss a shared vision for One Health, review a draft regional One Health framework and identify strategies to sustain a One Health community of practice beyond the One Health One Caribbean One Love Project. The workshop marked the end of a two-year collaborative, results-based One Health leadership training series, which was launched in November 2014. This Series was facilitated by Dr. Roderick King of the Florida Institute for Health Innovation, and by Pr. Craig Stephen of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative.“The Caribbean is subject to globalization, and is affected like other parts of the world by problems of waste management, pollution, destruction of habitats, and threatened by global warming. All this significantly affects the health of the regional ecosystems as well as animal and human populations. Ultimately, it is food safety and food security that is at stake” said Dr. Kathian Hackshaw, Chief Veterinary Officer and One Health Leader from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, also Chair of CaribVET Steering Committee.The One Health concept provides a framework to address zoonotic diseases in a broader and more coordinated manner, at the human-animal-ecosystems interfaces by promoting transdisciplinarity and collaboration across all government sectors and society to reduce significantly health risks.

One Health Leadership in the Caribbean - “The Way Forward for One Health” successfully concluded in Trinidad & Tobago

Learning by Doing – One Health in Action

The 12 national teams presented their One Health project and outcomes related to three themes: 1) food security and food safety; 2) environment and health; and 3) society and health. Projects included vector-borne diseases (St. Lucia), Rabies outreach (Belize), iron deficiency (Dominica), childhood obesity (Grenada), antimicrobial resistance and residues (Barbados), invasive species (Lion Fish, Giant African Snail in Antigua and St. Vincent respectively), heavy metals in fish (Trinidad and Tobago), reduction of pesticides use (Haiti), aquaponics and mercury poisoning (Suriname), solid waste management (Guyana) and sustainable river farming (Jamaica). Each team shared lessons learnt and best practices discovered while working across sectors, which enabled to find principles for practicing One Health in the region.

The Future of One Health in the Caribbean

The event hosted senior professionals from medical, agricultural and environmental fields and regional tertiary academic institutions including UWI’s Mona, Cavehill and St. Augustine campuses, Ross and St. George’s Universities. Participants worked together to brainstorm feasible solutions to sustain a One Health community of practice in the countries and at a regional level. They shared feedback on the draft One Health strategic framework, emphasized synergies between existing networks, programmes and initiatives (CaribVET, Adaptation to Climate change, CCH IV programme, Health Environments-Healthy People and One Health for the Caribbean…).

ListenMi News edu-tainment feature on One Health

The highlights of the ceremony were the presentation of certificates of achievement to participants who completed the One Health Leadership Series and the launch of a ListenMi Feature on One Health by Bay-C. Bay-C, the bass vocalist from platinum-selling Jamaican dancehall/reggae quartet, TOK, is One Health’s Celebrity Patron. ListenMi news is a creative way in which Bay-C uses his musical influence to create awareness about issues of global concern which are sometimes overlooked.

The “One Health, One Caribbean, One Love” project is implemented by UWI. Project partners: PAHO/WHO, FAO, CIRAD, Ministries of Agriculture of Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis and Grenada. Funding is through the EU from the ACP Science and Technology Programme (S&T II), and is being supported by the EU under the 10th European Development Fund – Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Project being executed by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)”.