WILD BW: ONE HEALTH AND FMD IS IT A COINCIDENCE?

Roughly two thousand years ago, history records in the bible a coincidence that can only be defined as beyond human imagination, when a Jewish celebration of the pass over feast, commemorating the departure of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt coincided to the day with the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true pass over lamb foreshadowed by the pass over feast. It was a time marker which we still live by today. Much in the same way as when I was growing up my grandmother used to refer to the year of black sorghum, (ngwaga wa Mabele a mantsho) whenever she wanted to refer to the birth of someone.  Moments like that are truly rare and they are always worth recording. As I write this commentary another extremely curious coincidence, perhaps dwarfed only by the aforementioned one is taking place. The shocking announcement that foot  and mouth disease has been detected at Ramatlabama artificial insemination centre, and the hosting of the One Health Summit in France, where His Excellency  President Duma Boko travelled to attend two weeks ago. This is not a coincidence that many will notice, let alone see the significance. And before you wonder what this has to do with WILD BW, bear with me a little.

You see the One Health Summit is one of the last major pieces of the globalisation puzzle. The theme for this summit is "Ecosystems, plants, animals, and humans: An action and solutions summit to better the health of all life and the planet" This sounds so benign that anyone who says anything remotely critical, risks immediately being labelled crazy or a conspiracy theorist. The latter is a thought terminating response that is engaged to divert attention and discourage further scrutiny. If there is a certain feeling of inevitability about this whole movement, that is because the ground has been so worked consistently that many of us no longer seem to be shocked.  We read for example on the One Health Summit website that “One Health is no longer an option, but a prerequisite for global health and food security, limiting the health, economic and social impacts of epidemics.” The tragedy is that while there are clearly many benefits to a common approach to a lot of issues, many of us have no say in putting together this architecture, nor even the ultimate decision making to run it. What it means is that all major decisions impacting on health and food security will be made further away from our locale. Let’s take the current outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Ramatlabama for example. It used to be, in the past, the final decision on what to do would be entirely left to Gaborone, based not just on the international market requirements but on the socio-economic dynamics of the cattle industry in  Botswana. Now with One health considerations we can’t just up and say we vaccinate or we eradicate. In fact looking at the magnitude of the problem, we could be subjected to the strictest control grid that makes cattle rearing, for those outside ranches, near impossible. Listening to the Acting Minister of Lands and Agriculture Edwin Dikoloti addressing the press conference yesterday (Monday 13^th April), you come out with very little confidence as to what we can expect to happen. There is no certainty that the proposed containment area has not been breached. There are unclear timelines as to when we are likely to see domestic easing of restrictions to allow for local consumption. There is no certainty as to whether vaccination or eradication will be the solution. But what is of major concern is that with so much experience in dealing with animal disease outbreaks, we seem to be all at sea. We seem to be unsure of the very protocols that have stood us so well in past disasters. It’s easy to criticize from behind the comfort of one’s desk of course. But we criticize because we have confidence in our system to protect the lifeblood of Batswana, honed over many years. Cattle. You take cattle away from a Motswana you literally destroy him. They call it Modimo o o nko e metsi ( wetnosed God) for a reason. But I digress. The point is we know we can do better. We do not expect errors that see a breach of such magnitude as to infiltrate presumably the most secure area of animal disease control in the country. We criticize because the level of knowledge and skills investment in the Agricultural sector, which has produced possibly the largest number of PHD holders, demands that when something like this happens, we should be able to extinguish this swiftly and decisively. What is now emerging is akin to a panic. There seems to be more an appeal to the media not to be alarmist. We agree with that, but we also say to the authorities, give us the confidence that you’re on top of this.  It is like we’re waiting for a decision to drop down from somewhere.

Let’s park the FMD outbreak and its intriguing circumstances for a moment and unpack the general implications of the One Health doctrine. It is described as an integrated, unifying approach to balance and optimize the health of people, animals and the environment. The lead organisation is the World Health Organisation (WHO). Together with other sister bodies such as, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the United Nations Environment Program and the World Organisation for Animal Health, (WHOA) they have formed what is known as the One Health Quadripartite that promotes a multi-sectoral approach to  reduce health threats at the human-animal-ecosystem interface. This simply means for example that outbreaks such as the current FMD in Botswana, cannot only simply be seen as a livestock problem, but seen in the context also of environmental and human health. A panel of 29 experts, One Health High Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP) advises the Quadripartite. They are charged with among other things, “investigating the impact of human activity on the environment and wildlife habitats, and how this drives disease threats. Critical areas include food production and distribution, urbanization and infrastructure development, international travel and trade, activities that lead to biodiversity loss and climate change, and those that put increased pressure on the natural resource base – all of which can lead to the emergence of zoonotic diseases.” Hence the WILD BW interest. The connection with biodiversity, animal health and human health may not be obvious to many, but it is there.

So when Assistant Minister Dikoloti kept referring to the WHOA in his press conference, you need to know that the outbreak of FMD in the Southern tip of Botswana is not just a national issue but is a perfect opportunity to validate global approach to health issues. Again it sounds conspiratorial, but the coincidence is just too glaring to miss for those who care to connect the dots.  Seen in that context, the issue goes beyond simply protecting the EU market, but compliance with globalized protocols. The issue is not to shun or denigrate international assistance in combating a local crisis, but a call for a lot more transparency in why we make certain decisions which have far reaching implications.

ONE HEALTH: FMD OUTBREAK IS ALSO A HUMAN AND BIODIVERSITY HEALTH ISSUE