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Disease Alerts

One Health Belize

A collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach working at the local, regional, national, and global levels with the goal of achieving optimal health outcomes, recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and our shared environment.  

The One Health approach has gained prominence over the years to support global health security, improving coordination, collaboration and communication at the human-animal-environment interface. It addresses shared health threats such as zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, food safety and others.

The Belize National One Health Committee, with support from PAHO/WHO, and the US Government have organized a Video/Poster competition entitled “Belize is Antimicrobial Aware!” to encourage tertiary students to engage with the wealth of information available on AMR and compose/contextualize this message to support local educational campaigns on this global public health threat. Deadline November 22nd, 2022

 

 

 

Why One Health

Many of the same microbes infect animals and humans, as they share the eco-systems they live in. Efforts by just one sector cannot prevent or eliminate the problem. For instance, rabies in humans is effectively prevented only by targeting the animal source of the virus (for example, by vaccinating dogs).

Information on influenza viruses circulating in animals is crucial to the selection of viruses for human vaccines for potential influenza pandemics. Drug-resistant microbes can be transmitted between animals and humans through direct contact between animals and humans or through contaminated food, so to effectively contain it, a well-coordinated approach in humans and in animals is required.

One Health Themes

Preventing and controlling animal pathogens at their source

One Health Partners

One Health Belize

To promote, improve, and defend the health and well-being of all species by enhancing cooperation and collaboration between physicians, veterinarians, agronomists, environmental scientists, and other relevant professionals by fostering strengths in leadership and management to achieve these goals