Regional
Wildlife health
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In 2023, the theme for World Wildlife Day is “Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation”. The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE) is working with many partners to strengthen the wildlife component of One Health. This year, we take a look at activities in the region to feature the people who are making a difference.
“It is very important to partner with communities to address wildlife health and management issues because we firmly believe that involvement of local communities makes wildlife conservation not only successful but also sustainable. A supportive community with a positive attitude towards wildlife greatly assists in our work of treatment, rescue and translocation of wildlife.”
“WOAH supports my work on wildlife health by providing a network and platform where experts of different countries share their valuable knowledge, experiences and activities related to wildlife health and management. WOAH is also an ultimate and official source of knowledge and information on wildlife around the world.”
Dr Bijaya Shrestha, WOAH Focal Point for Wildlife in Nepal
“In Laos PDR, the public should understand the importance of biodiversity as it is an essential process supporting all life on Earth, including humans who live closely with and depend on wildlife.”
“WOAH supports my work on wildlife health by keeping me informed on emerging diseases and disease outbreaks. They also outline how to work together under the One Health umbrella, to address diseases at the wildlife-domestic animal-human interfaces.”
Dr Watthana Theppangna, WOAH Focal Point for Wildlife in Lao PDR
Regional events over recent years have identified partnerships—especially working together in a One Health manner—as instrumental to support and improve wildlife health. At the WOAH webinar for World Wildlife Day 2021 in Asia and the Pacific, participants discussed “The evolving role of veterinarians in wildlife health for One Health”. The panel of young professionals highlighted the importance of good communication skills in building relationships to assist in a career working with wildlife.
Stakeholders from the government sector and academia agreed during the Asia-Pacific Tripartite plus UNEP Webinar on “Wildlife Health for One Health” in 2021 that multisectoral collaboration is key to improve the involvement of wildlife health in the One Health space.
During the Joint WOAH and WWF Workshop on “Biodiversity as a One Health Shield in Asia and the Pacific” (2022), participants formulated recommendations on working together in the future. Workshop participants agreed that:
in activities related to biodiversity and ecosystem health in Asia and the Pacific should engage more with other groups to include them in discussions on biodiversity and One Health.
Please share activities by Members in the region. Send your stories to [email protected].
