Traditionally, the Veterinary Profession has been concerned in varying degrees with problems of Agriculture, Biology and Public Health. However, growing interest in the comparative aspects of disease management, has now become the common ground between veterinary and human medicine leading to - The One Health Concept. Zoonotic diseases may be simply defined as infections naturally transmitted between humans and vertebrate animals. According to the WHO, at least 60% of all human pathogens are of zoonotic origin and about 75% of emerging pathogens in man, can be linked to animal origins. Ghana is currently experiencing outbreaks of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)-a disease that is transmitted from poultry to man. The closeness of man with domestic animals which provide him with food, fiber and draught power and the zoonotic diseases that arise as a result of this closeness and the consumption of animal products, are discussed. HPAI has been used as the prototype to describe the occurrence, spread, control and the socio-economic impact of some of these zoonotic diseases.
Ghana experienced her first HPAI outbreaks in October 2006-2007 and the disease was effectively controlled in the country and within the West Africa subregion. However after this success, there appears to have been a gradual breakdown in surveillance systems over the past nine years and the levels of biosecurity practiced on various farms declined as a result of lack of sustained farmer education. In May 2015, HPAI made a spectacular come back and new outbreaks of the disease were reported, especially in Greater Accra Region. As at the end of January 2016, total outbreaks of HPAI encountered were 37 made up of i) Greater Accra 31, ii) Volta 2, iii) Ashanti 1, iv) Central 1, v) Western , 2. The effect of outbreaks of HPAI on peoples’ livelihoods and its zoonotic nature are discussed. Behavior change and the maintenance of strict biosecurity are recommended to be adopted as part of the counter epizootic measures to curtail the spread of HPAI. Close collaboration between the Veterinary and the Medical profession is critical in the eventual control and eradication of this and other zoonotic disease from the country and elsewhere
PROFILE OF SPEAKER
Dr. William Blankson Amanfu was educated at Mfantsipim School Cape Coast-Ghana. He attended the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria-Nigeria in 1968 and successfully graduated (Top of his Class) with Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree in 1973. After working in the field in Ghana from 1973-1977 as the Regional Veterinary Officer for the Western and Central Regions and as Coastal Veterinary Officer-Accra, he went to Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa-USA in 1977, where he obtained MSc in Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine. Dr Amanfu had specialized training in Animal Health Research at the Institute for Animal Health in Tsukuba and Sapporo-Japan in 1984; Management of Agricultural Research Institutions at the George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia-USA (1986); and other courses/seminars in Veterinary Epidemiology and Management of Transboundary Animal Diseases in institutions in Germany, Italy, USA, UK e.t.c.
He was appointed the Senior Veterinary Officer in charge of the Accra Veterinary Laboratory in 1980 and held the position of Head of the Accra Veterinary Laboratory for 14 years and attained the rank of Deputy Director after serving the Department of Veterinary Services in Ghana for over 21 years. In Botswana, Dr Amanfu was the Head of the Bacteriology Unit of the Botswana National Veterinary Laboratory in 1994 and served as its Director from 1996-2001.
Dr Amanfu was appointed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO/UN) based in Rome-Italy in 2001 as Animal Health Officer in Charge of Bacterial Diseases and Zoonoses. He retired from FAO in January 2010.
Dr Amanfu is a member of World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)-Paris, France Technical Expert ad hoc Group on Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia and an OIE PVS expert.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of GALVmed (Bill & Melinda Gates Funded Charity) based in Edinburgh-Scotland. He has over 30 technical publications to his credit, many of which are in refereed journals. Dr Amanfu was for 3 years, a visiting Scholar/Part-time Lecturer at the Univeristy of Ghana School of Veterinary Medicine-Legon
He is the current Chairman of the Veterinary Council of Ghana, having served the Ghana Veterinary Medical Association in various capacities as Treasurer, Secretary and President.
