Infectious diseases have always been a fact of life for us humans. Measles, mumps, chickenpox and whooping cough dominated our youth in post-war England; there were vaccinations galore. However, I cannot help feeling that it has all become very complex in the last couple of decades or so. There always seems to be an "emerging" disease - and sometimes a "re-emerging" one: different strains, different variations. There are vector-borne diseases and zoonotic diseases.
More of us live in cities; climate change has all kinds of unexpected impacts; and of course, populations are growing in many regions. We need to be careful, and we need to be aware of the dangers.
As the Permanent Secretary at our Ministry of Health and Wellness Errol Greene noted at a press briefing last week, diseases such as COVID-19 and Mpox put enormous pressure on health systems. So it was good to see that a cross-sector collaboration called "One Health" is underway. Over the next year, the plan is to lay the foundation for technical support and important investments in our public health infrastructure. It is hoped that this will help build resilience - a kind of health-focused disaster preparedness - for health emergencies, including zoonotic diseases that spread from animals to humans. This is all part of the Local Health System Sustainability Project - a wider initiative funded by USAID in several countries around the world, including Jamaica. Since 2014, USAID has spent US$2.5 billion globally on emerging infectious diseases. The effects on economies are obvious; so are the effects on our emotional and mental health as well as physical.
I mentioned collaboration, and this is crucial; the health ministry will be establishing mechanisms with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, the private sector, civil society organisations and international development partners "to enhance Jamaica's capacity to manage public health emergencies of international concern" through the One Health approach, said the Permanent Secretary.
(left to right) Dr. Osbil Watson, Director, Veterinary Services Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining; Ms. Gillian Guthrie, Chief Technical Director, Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation; and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness Mr. Errol Greene (Photos: Ministry of Health and Wellness)
I learned from Director of the Veterinary Services Division at the agriculture ministry, Dr Osbil Watson, who spoke at the press briefing on September 13, that 60 percent of infectious diseases worldwide are of animal origin. Every nine minutes, a human dies of rabies (which we do not have in Jamaica, due to eternal vigilance; however, wildlife trafficking and the smuggling of pets is also a great worry to the veterinary division). Many diseases are also spread by plant-borne pathogens and contaminants. Then there is the growing and very worrying issue of antimicrobial resistance, which means that bacteria and viruses in your body have evolved so that they no longer respond to medications such as antibiotics. This is frightening.
Dr. Watson told me he is concerned about keeping the West Nile virus at bay; it is the most common mosquito-borne disease in the United States, in almost every state. There is also the Oropouche Virus disease, also spread by insects (midges and mosquitoes) which was reported recently in Cuba. The answer to all of this is, of course, non-stop monitoring and vigilance. However, disease has no borders, and we all travel a great deal these days.
I found remarks by Ms. Gillian Guthrie, Chief Technical Director at the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation (MEGJC) very interesting. She spoke of the pressures on biodiversity and the Jamaican Government's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, which is to be mainstreamed into different areas of government. I look forward to hearing more about this.
The United Nations "COP 16" Biodiversity Conference will take place in Cali, Colombia, from October 21 to November 1, 2024. Among topics to be addressed there will be nature-based solutions and the impact of climate change on human health. COP 16 will be the first Biodiversity COP since the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP 15 in December 2022 in Montréal, Canada. I hope that Jamaica will be living up to its commitments under this framework. If you follow @UNBiodiversity on Twitter/X and on LinkedIn you will find a wealth of information there on all biodiversity-related topics.
Land use change often leads to people living much closer to animals, wild and domesticated. There are inherent dangers; for example, avian flu, which is present in wild birds, may spread to domesticated chickens and on rare occasions, humans. Some 14 cases in humans have appeared in the United States in the past few months, including a case of cow-to-human transmission.
I have always felt that a healthy environment makes for healthy humans; Counselor at USAID Mr. Clinton White emphasised the "interconnection between people, animals and plants." This we know, as our health is inextricably linked with that of the Planet. It seems to have taken us a while to realise that we humans are our environment; we are nothing without it. It is not separate from us; the problem is that we have come to believe that it can be manipulated to suit our needs, with no repercussions.
Not so. We neglect our environment at our own peril. If we destroy it, it can and probably will destroy us. It's about time we understood that "interconnectedness" that Mr. White spoke of. And we need to be prepared!
(left to right) Dr. Jaidev "Jay" Singh, Country Representative, USAID Jamaica; Counsellor Clinton White, Regional Representative, USAID; Ms. Amy Tachco, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy Jamaica; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness Mr. Errol Greene; Ms. Gillian Guthrie, Chief Technical Director, Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation; Dr. Osbil Watson, Director, Veterinary Services Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining. (Photo: Ministry of Health and Wellness)
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