AIM OF WORLD VETERINARY YEAR

In 2011, all veterinary institutions will have an opportunity to organize events in their own countries to promote the veterinary profession through the Vet2011 Global Initiative.

The main aim is to improve public awareness and remind policymakers everywhere in the world that:
-- The veterinary profession has been serving humankind for 250 years;
-- Modern veterinarians are not only animal doctors and animal welfare advocates, they are also key public health stakeholders because of their crucial role in:
-- promoting food security by supervising animal production hygiene,
-- controlling zoonoses,
-- monitoring food quality and safety,
-- biomedical research,
-- protecting the environment and biodiversity.

PREDICT- a new approach

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PREDICT: Building a global early warning system for emerging diseases that move between wildlife and people and more...

In order to predict, respond to, and prevent the emergence of novel infectious diseases in humans, pathogens must be identified at their source.
Explosive human population growth and environmental changes have resulted in increased numbers of people living in close contact with animals. Unfortunately the resulting increase in contact, together with changes in land use, has altered the inherent ecological balance between pathogens and their human and animal hosts.