WORLD VET DAY: Veterinary Doctors key to public health

| By Dr. Ismail Asiimwe | 

Veterinarians have used their knowledge of medicine to play an overarching role in maintaining good health of both humans and animals, from the old days to the modern today.

Knowledge of veterinary medicines has been exploited by veterinarians to support management of a range of ailments in humans and animals, through drug/medicines discovery. This has seen rate of survival of life improve, evidenced by the steady increase in the global human population.

Veterinary medicine marks the foundation of medicine and the role of veterinarians and animals in the discovery of medicines can not be overemphasized.

This fact has symbolically seen most, if not all of the human health and Veterinary colleges or teaching and research institutions globally, use ‘a snake’ in their institutional identity Logo, in a symbolic recognition of the critical role of animals & veterinary medicine to the modern day efforts of strengthening health and public health systems.

As we commemorate the World Veterinary Day 2024, we urge all Governments, Global & National health Systems, to recognize the great contribution of Veterinarians in strengthening public health systems. Veterinarians have committed their lives in the most risky undertakings of their daily job, most of which put them at a high risk of contracting the deadliest pathogens especially those that originate from animal kingdom (wild life, aquatic life, avians, livestock, etcetera).

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Dr. Ismail Asiimwe is the UVA President, Central Uganda Chapter.

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