Health Journalists Challenged to Think ‘One Health’ in their Reportage
By Delicious Mathuthu
Health Journalists have been challenged to proffer effects of human, animal and environment health confluence and the possible threats they present to society.
This challenge was made recently during a ‘One Health’ reporting training boot camp conducted by Internews under the Rooted in Trust 2.0 (RiT) Zimbabwe project in Gweru.
The World Health Organisation says the advent of One Health is as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increase in emerging zoonotic diseases.
“…recent decades have led to a growing recognition of the importance of the One Health approach.
“One Health is an integrative, cross-disciplinary approach to designing and implementing actions and policies at the human, animal, environment health interface,” the organisation says.
Speaking in Gweru, Internews Media Mentor, Thando Nkomo, said it’s high time journalists ventured into One Health considering the increase in zoonotic diseases, and also assess the impact of climate change on food and food systems.
“One Health is an approach that involves journalists linking planetary, animal and human health in their reportage.
“This is an interdisciplinary approach when reporting on health issues.
It seeks to sustainably balance and optimise the health of people, animals and the environment.
“When you are thinking One Health you are thinking how does the health of people interact with the health of animals, the health of the environment or the health of the planet.
“This approach also recognises that the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants and the wider environment are close linking and interdependent,” he said.
Apart from the origins of COVID-19, Nkomo gave examples of diseases such as January disease, foot and mouth in cattle and New Castle in chickens, and how they affect the general supply system of meat as the animals get sick.
He said such diseases can affect meat quality, food nutrition due to low supply of meat and even businesses for those running butcheries in the affected areas.
“So when we are talking One Health we want to write stories that go further than just talking about that specific issue, if its meat link it to the planet and other things.
“This approach is multi disciplinary and drives you to interact with experts and communities on multiple sectors.
“This means that we as journalists need to try to get out of our comfort zones.
“We want to tackle shared human threats by looking at them through the various angles which is the human, animal and environmental angles.
“This approach has been recognised as critical because of the outbreak of zoonotic diseases.
“For a lot of us COVID-19 is the one that made us aware of this threat.
“So the COVID-19 pandemic helped us to realise the interconnectedness of humans, animals plants and the environment; the huge impact that animal diseases can have on our daily lives,” Nkomo said.
On climate change and One Health, Nkomo said journalists can look at its effects on humans, animals and the environment.
The change of climatic conditions over time can impact on the quality of food and nutrition in plants, looking at the current plants compared to previous, he said.
WHO further notes that One Health is “an approach to designing and implementing programmes, policies, legislation and research in which multiple sectors communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes.
“It promotes multisectoral, transdisciplinary collaboration connecting human, animal and environmental health,” the organisation says.
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