UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA ONE HEALTH WORKSHOP AT MUNGENA HIGH SCHOOL - Ilana van Wyk (Hans Hoheisen Wildlife Research Station, UP)

By -
There is a strong relationship between the health of humans, animals – be that domestic or wild – and the environment.  Where is there a better example of this “One Health” concept than in communities that live at the interface of expansive conservation areas, such as the Bushbuckridge community?
One 10th August, a group of lecturers from the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases (DVTD), from the University of Pretoria (UP), hosted a One Health workshop with learners from Mungena High School. The Onderstepoort Veterinary Faculty of UP runs the Hluvukani Animal Clinic, a community clinic that provides veterinary services to the people of Hluvukani and surrounds. The Mungena High School is a close neighbour of the clinic and was therefore approached to host the workshop.  Forty learners from various grades were asked to prepare posters on various topics, such as cattle, dogs, humans, drinking water, and the environmental health beforehand. The learners had to identify aspects of their topics that point to either a healthy or unhealthy state of each topic, as well as factors that result in or remedy an unhealthy status. 
On Saturday morning learners, teachers, lecturers and Environmental Monitors from UP met at the school and the learners had the opportunity to present their posters. They all did an exceptional job and it was clear the learners did their homework in researching their topics. It was interesting that the learner’s identified similar issues that affect the topics of their presentations, such as littering, poor nutrition and disease. It is clear that human health, animal health and environmental health are all related and dependent on each other. 
It is very exciting to see how much knowledge the children gained from preparing their posters and also learned from the other teams’ presentations. One group even reported that they are no longer scared of goats just by learning more about them! We look forward to the next One Health workshop next year.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kukula Traditional Health Practitioners Association Bio-Cultural Community Protocols Revision Workshop & Peer-to-Peer Learning Exchange

By -
Image
Community mapping Natural Justice’s Cath Traynor together with Mina Buthelezi (SANParks BSP/K2C Data Collector & Field Assistant), and Prof. Wayne Twine (Wits University) facilitated a 3-day workshop with the Kukula Traditional Health Practitioners Association to revise their bio-cultural community protocol (BCP). The Kukula’s original BCP was finalized in 2010, and the past 6 years have seen a growth in Kukula membership, a change in their priorities plus the introduction by the South African Government of several new laws and policies which will impact the Kukula. The objectives of the workshop were to (i) finalize the BCP revision process, (ii) focused discussions concerning leveraging the revised BCP, (iii) furthering engagement around medicinal plant issues with protected areas managers, and (iv) peer-to-peer learning exchange with Ndindani Community Nursery in Phalaborwa . During the first session of the workshop the Kukula agreed on a BCP revision process, this wa...
Read more

K2C to start a blogging page

By -
Image
From the 1st Dec 2013, K2C will start a regular blog posting on this page.   Various potential bloggers will be approached by K2C to submit regular blogs on their life in the K2C, their challenges and opportunities.   If you would like to contribute and be a regular blogger on the K2C blog page, please contact info@kruger2canyons.org.   If you would like to be able to follow the regular blogs, please fill in your email address in the email block below "Follow by Email"
Read more

KNP ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CAPACITY BUILDING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORS

By -
Image
By Vulani Mabunda On the 19 th of July 2019 19x EMS from different host institutions, i.e.   Sefapane, Nourish and Letaba Ranch attended an Environmental Education workshop at Letaba Elephant Hall facilitated by KNP’s Kirsty Reedman and her team. Environmental Education (EE) connects us to the world around us, teaching about both natural built environments, EE raises awareness of issues impacting the environment upon which we depend, as well as actions we can take to improve and sustain it. The specific outcome s from the Workshop was to empower participants to be able to: Design and implement an environmental Education Programme Design and implement a children’s environmental education programme Design and implement an environmental education programme for visitors to a conservation area Through this workshop, EM's acquired a lot of knowledge and experience in terms of Environmental Education:  EM's learned how to integ...
Read more