(as prepared for delivery)

 

  • H.E. Dr. Thun Vathana, Director of Prek Leap National Institute of Agriculture, and Chairman of the Cambodia One Health University Network
  • Distinguished guests, students, ladies and gentlemen

It is a great pleasure to be a part of this "One Health" awareness raising event today.  Thank you to CAMBOHUN and SEAOHUN for organizing this initiative. 

As we all know our world is becoming more and more inter-connected.  All countries must deal with issues related to the intersection of wildlife, livestock, and people.  Of course, diseases do not respect boundaries and increased international trade and travel bring us into close contact with areas and animals to which we are not routinely exposed and enable diseases to cause illnesses that we have never encountered.

The COVID-19 pandemic, avian influenza, Ebola, West Nile virus, SARS, MERS -  to name a few - highlight the important connection between animal and human health.

To fight these diseases, we need a One Health workforce that can coordinate across human, animal, and environmental health sectors to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats.

This "One Health" awareness raising workshop is an excellent opportunity to bring together pre-service institutions and other stakeholders and share what is currently being done on the One Health approach.  This approach recognizes that the health of animals, humans, and the environment are all inter-linked and, for this reason, confronting health threats requires collaboration across sectors.  We need to introduce collaborative thinking and ensure that university curricula teach cross-sector practices.  We need to strengthen the connections between pre-service and in-service training.  If we do these things, we can most definitely make an impact and improve the response to zoonotic disease threats. 

We can change not only how faculty look at and teach about these disease threats, but to really strengthen and improve the professional skills of the next generation of Cambodian veterinary and health professionals on "One Health."

Thank you to our partners and colleagues who will share the One Health concept, approach, and principles with us today.  Our aim is that the knowledge shared today and through this One Health program, will be integrated into Cambodia's training and workforce development and will continue to grow for years to come. 

Thank you!