Today might be Election Day but it is also “One Health Day!” The National Pork Board is taking on a role to help in celebrating this occasion.
In a year of a pandemic, health is especially important. The National Pork Board says that “One Health Day” is observed around the globe.
“Where the players in the One Health space, so individuals that represent human health, animal health, and environmental health, and recognize that these sectors of health are so intertwined that we need to look at emerging issues collectively,” according to NPB’s Dr. Heather Fowler. “Those players come together to raise awareness about this approach, as well as to really reaffirm their commitment to the One Health approach.”
Dr. Fowler is the borad’s director of producer and public health, and she says that the One Health approach is embedded in pork production.
“If you look at our six ‘We Care’ ethical principles which direct responsible and ethical swine production, you can see that they readily map back to human health, animal health, and environmental health which are the three sectors of the One Health framework,” she explains. “So again, our farmers are applying the One Health approach every single day, and by celebrating the ‘One Health Day’, it allows us, again as players in this space, to really reaffirm our commitment to this approach, as well as raise awareness of how we are applying the One Health approach.”
Fowler adds pork producers are good stewards and use antibiotics responsibly: “When we talk about antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance, it truly is a One Health issue, and that’s because we see inputs, or use of antibiotics in human medicine, veterinary medicine, and even in the environment. So, as our producers relate to this issue, they recognize that they need to do their part to protect the efficacy of antibiotics by using antibiotics responsibly, and that’s something that in the industry we are definitely committed to.”
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For information on “One Health Day” events, click HERE.