Making the Case for Integrated Human-Animal Preventive Health Care System in economically Underdeveloped Communities

Aya Omar, Rawhi Omar
2018 Madridge Journal of Vaccines  
Health care in economically depressed communities is almost always a hostage to socio-economic "class' systems that typically separate society into a minority of wealthy individuals or groups that are bid against the remaining impoverished majority. That majority, in its struggle for survival, relies heavily on privately owned farm animals for economic sustenance, which, in turn, makes its own health dependent on the health of its animals. An infectious disease that is usually limited to
more » ... (zoonosis) may acquire added virulence so as to inflict the respective animal owners and from their proceeds to inflict the rest of the community regardless of class or wealth. This dynamic is exemplified by the wide spread of rabies, a deadly zoonosis, among people and animals of poor communities in Nepal, whereby the inadequacy of general health provisions, especially preventive anti-rabies vaccination, is at the core of this health crisis. From analyzing that example, it is concluded, that providing adequate preventive healthcare for all, including domestic animals, should not be viewed as an act of charity, but rather as an absolute necessity.
doi:10.18689/mjv-1000109 fatcat:r6an4pinuzg23ml2tdyjeusk6a