Workshop to mark World Veterinary Year 2011
A workshop was held on the 11th April 2011 at Domaine Les Pailles in the context of the World Veterinary Year 2011.
Mr Satish Faugoo, the Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security
At the opening ceremony the Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, Mr. S. Faugoo, announced that the JIS (Jodhsing Iswar Sing) Group from India is in the process of setting up an international veterinary college in Mauritius, to be affiliated to the University of Mauritius, and represents an important development in the veterinary education sector.
The workshop, attended by stakeholders from both the public and private sectors, aimed at assessing the achievements and challenges of the veterinarian profession.
Minister Faugoo observed that with the emergence of health risks associated with globalisation and climate change, veterinarians will be called to play a more effective and proactive role, not just at public sector level, but also at private sector level through disease surveillance and providing a first level of alert, so that biological disasters, natural or deliberate and regardless of whether they threaten animals, humans or both, can be stopped at their original source in animals.
For the Principal Veterinary Officer, Dr. D. Menowa, who was speaking of the challenges that lie ahead for the veterinarians, this workshop will also be an opportunity to reflect on the issues that have caused a setback to the livestock industry and more particularly to food quality standards, food safety and transboundary movements of animals and animal products.
This year has been declared World Veterinary Year, marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of the veterinary profession and of veterinary science. The theme adopted for this year’s celebration is “Vet for health. Vet for food. Vet for the planet”, a slogan that evokes the all-important role that veterinarians play in safeguarding human and animal health, in working to enhance food security and in protecting the environment.
It is to be recalled that the world’s first veterinary school was established in Lyon, France, in 1761, shortly followed by the Alfort veterinary school, near Paris, in 1764, both of them at the initiative of a pioneer French veterinarian Claude Bougelat.
