Coinciding with the International Day of Zoonoses, the Popular Group in the Senate has presented a motion in the Health and Consumption Commission, to promote the One Health strategy, which recognizes that “human, animal and environmental are closely linked and must be addressed in a coordinated way to ensure our health, "said the senator for Murcia Juan María Vázquez. "A strategy promoted by the WHO, the FAO, the OIE and, recently, by the European Commission itself", clarified the senator.
"Every year, five new diseases potentially dangerous for the human species, come from animals, including transmission through the food chain," said Juan Maria Vázquez and gave as examples: COVID19, avian influenza, rabies, Ebola, Brucellosis, Rift Valley fever, or influenza. "60% of human pathogens are zoonoses, that is, they come from animals and more than 300,000 cases of zoonotic diseases are diagnosed every year in Europe," explained Vázquez.
In the motion, presented by the popular senators belonging to the Health and Consumption Commission of the Upper House, Francisco Bernabé, Violante Tomás, Antonio Alarcó, in addition to Vázquez Rojas, the Government is urged to urgently address a State Plan to develop One Health and create a delegated Commission of the Government to unite the interests for public health from the different ministries and include education and research.
HUMAN HEALTH AND ANIMAL HEALTH
Likewise, Juan María Vázquez recalled that, on June 30, the Joint Commission for the European Union authorized the proposed regulation for the new European health program (EU4Healt Program) of the European Commission, for the period 2021-2027 , built to decisively reinforce those aspects that have failed during the pandemic and to be prepared for future threats.
The interconnection between human health, animal health and, in more general terms, with the environment, raises a "new" health, which must be approached from an interdisciplinary and global approach with the participation of doctors, veterinarians, as well as, with other specialists in the world of health.
“The European EU4Health Program will strengthen the health systems of the Member States, but it will also strengthen the security of Europe as a territory prepared for new threats. Fighting pandemics, antibiotic resistance, or food security is only possible from a One Health perspective, ”the senators explained.
Vázquez, asks the PSOE to “reconsider its rejection of the amendment proposed by the Popular Party, the only party that has claimed the presence of veterinarians and the One Health concept in the conclusions document of the commission for economic and social reconstruction that is debate in Congress ”and called for the unity of a Cajal Plan.
