ABOUT PROJECT PEVULOS
The main support and training activities of this project will cover different aspects. Below are reported briefly the topics that will be addressed with their goals.
Topic 1 – Improving knowledge on Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety aspects with an approach “Farm to Fork” as an important part of the European Green Deal.
In this topic, breeding systems will be analysed in relation to the welfare of the animal in the various stages up to slaughtering. Again, all aspects of food safety of food of animal origin within the agri-food chain will be examined from the perspective of sustainability of the production flows and protection of Public and One Health.
In general, the protection of Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety and then of the public health, is of fundamental importance. Therefore, the countries of the Western Balkans such as Albania and BiH, are required to strengthen knowledge and skills in the field of environmental health, animal welfare, infectious diseases (zoonosis), toxicology, food safety both for lecturers and graduates in Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production. It will be essential for full integration into the European regulatory and application system.
Topic 2- Development and application of an integrated approach between environmental (Eco Health), animal production, veterinary medicine, food safety and human health in a perspective of One Health.
Global trends, such as climate change, population growth, urbanisation, deforestation, increased demand for food, and the strong increase in international trade and travel pose grand challenges to society as a whole, including serious risks to human, animal, and ecosystem health. Adequately meeting these global challenges should involve the development and implementation of durable interventions that emanate from an integrated and balanced perspective in which environmental, wildlife, veterinary and human elements and considerations are integrated. In other words, optimal global health should be obtained by using a holistic approach. This is strongly endorsed by the Sustainable Development Goals which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth. An integrative approach involves interdisciplinary research and education by collaborations between several scientific disciplines and societal domains, to monitor, study, evaluate, model and control Public Health threats. This approach is defined as the integrative effort of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals, and the environment, taking into account environmental, social, ecological and economical aspects. The One Health concept recognizes that health of people is connected to animals and the environment and vice versa. From a more classical point of view, the main focus of One Health concerns the health issues related to the human-animal-environment interface. Environmental health addresses all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person. It is targeted towards preventing disease and creating health-supportive environments to contribute positively to Public Health. Other aspects of relevant importance that countries face, are the relatively strong effect of climate change and environmental pollution on health. Air, soil, and water pollution resulting from different causes (toxic waste disposal, industry, heating, vehicle emissions, open combustion of solid waste, the use of toxic substances in agriculture and drugs in animals) can affect health of people both directly and indirectly through the consumption of food of animal origin. Moreover, zoonosis such as brucellosis, tularaemia, anthrax, yersiniosis, listeriosis and echinococcosis among farmers are persistently prevalent in all the Balkan countries. Local expertise in these domains is scarce, and, moreover, the epidemiological data regarding these issues are often contradictory.
Topic 1 e 2 Goals – For this purpose an innovative, interdisciplinary and integrative prospective through the realization of a post-graduate school (PGS) and a Master’s degree programme (Ms) is proposed to train the teachers with a “teach to teacher” approach and recent graduates in the field of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production. These teachers will in turn teach other teachers and new students of the degree courses in Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science. Moreover, the new graduate students will bring their competence in companies involved in the agri-food chain (agricultural, livestock, feed, processing and sale of food of animal origin). This new didactical approach will increase the knowledge and skills level in the field of the veterinary public health and food safety with an important impact on the public health of the partner third countries involved in the project. Finally, the overall goal of the project is the improvement of knowledge and practices in veterinary Public Health and Food Safety (taking into account environmental sustainability, animal production, veterinary medicine, food control) in Western Balkan countries. Based on a holistic perspective the education in Public Health will be developed creating a PGS and Ms in veterinary public health and food safety for recent graduate students in the field of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, and teachers. As previously mentioned, with the teachers will be used a Teach the Teacher approach thanks to the cooperation of colleagues coming from EU universities.
Impact and ambitions
The creation of the Consortium represents an innovative concept and approach. Cooperation and knowledge sharing between various actors within the countries involved (and between countries) is a first step towards sustainable change in higher education in the Western Balkan region. The project offers a good potential to achieve impacts since the awareness of the actors involved is the first step for the dissemination of the results and their systematization. The ambition, in fact, is also the replicability of the model, where the various universities produce quality “educational products” through cooperation and pooling of resources.
Thanks to creation of the PGS and Ms, more academic mobility within and between educational programmes, and further cooperation in research and education will be possible. This will enhance the potential for the expansion and impact of the Teach the Teacher method. Global changes require innovations within and with new educational programmes/course. Alignment with EU educational programmes will allow to incorporate modern academic skills and will contribute to reduce the gap between European countries and those of the Balkan area in the field of environment protection, animal breeding, veterinary public health and sanitary policy, food safety and consumers’ health protection. The project can also contribute to ensure that the citizens of the participating third countries become aware of the problems related to veterinary public health and food safety, and, consequently, adopt more aware behaviours also thanks to the help of the legislator who will have to intervene in the matter.