Animals, Health, and Society-RUSVM Colleagues Contribute to New Book

Feb 04, 2021

Several veterinary professionals from Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine (Ross Vet) contributed to Animals, Health, and Society: Health Promotion, Harm Reduction, and Health Equity in a One Health World, a newly released book that is one of the first to explain health promotion, harm reduction, and health equity issues in One Health.  It represents a true call to action for proactive approaches in One Health for our shared environment.

This first edition from Routledge contains 23 chapters from authors from around the world, including Ross Vet faculty Drs. Christa Gallagher, Luis Cruz, and Luis Pablo Herve-Claude, as well as a former Ross Vet colleague, Dr. John Berezowski. The book was edited by Ross Vet adjunct faculty member Dr. Craig Stephen.

Five of the chapters are from Ross Vet authors and cover the following topics:

  • Health Promotion as a Foundation for Reciprocal Care and Collective Action
  • Building Health Surveillance for Decision Support at the Animal, Human, Environment Nexus
  • Complex Systems Thinking in Health
  • A Caribbean Call to Action: Behaviour Change Strategies to Reduce Local Plastic Waste
  • Making a Case for Harm Reduction in Invasive Species Management: The St. Kitts “Monkey Problem”

A summary from the book states:

This timely book reframes the historic narrative of people, animals, and nature as risks to each other, to one where we think about health as a shared capacity. This new narrative promotes the positive contributions made to health across species and generations and addresses growing calls to shift from a reactive to proactive approach in One Health.

Editor Craig Stephen takes the reader on a tour of the situations wherein we can all, regardless of our job description, work across species, sectors, and generations to motivate action. Perspectives and methods from a variety of fields and experts are shared and adapted to promote collaborative understanding of and action on determinants of health at the animal-society interface. Case studies demonstrate that the principles and practices presented are feasible, empowering people to make choices that concurrently benefit the health of animals, societies, and ecosystems.

The first book to adapt and explain health promotion, harm reduction, and health equity issues in a One Health context, and in terms of animal health, this is necessary reading for students of and practitioners working in planetary health, conservation, ecohealth, public health, health promotion, veterinary medicine, and animal welfare.

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