Bringing One Health to policy makers in the Asia-Pacific region and G20 Summit
Dr. Francisco Olea Popelka worked as part of a multisectoral and transdisciplinary team composed of the Indonesian Ministries of Health, Home and Agriculture and the Association of All Health Offices; the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union); the University of Western Ontario, Canada and the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) that convinced this established consortium of mayors, the Asia Pacific Cities Alliance for Health and Development (APCAT), to join forces and adopt and implement a One Health workshop with fellow Asia Pacific regional city and district mayors and decision-makers in preparation for the November 2022 G20 meeting in Indonesia.
On June 2, 2022, APCAT conducted a high-level webinar titled "The Role of Sub-National Leadership in One Health." The purpose of the webinar was to prepare for the G20 One Health side meeting on June 8, 2023 in Lombok, Indonesia. The webinar was attended by over 1,500 participants via Zoom and over 1,000 participants via YouTube from 431 cities and districts across 16 countries. Attendees included mayors, ministers, and policy makers from the health, agriculture, and environment sectors. During the meeting, One Health was adopted as the unifying approach for mayors’ work in health, encompassing humans, animals, and the environment. The key points discussed and included in the declaration were the importance of local legislation, finding local solutions to local problems, promoting policy and public awareness, and establishing both local and national accountability. The declaration was shared with Indonesian national ministries, provincial governments, APCAT cities and partners for actions. Dr. Olea Popelka lead the efforts to publish this work with CABI Editorial in the United Kingdom (published January 18, 2023). As a result of this work, currently (March 2023), a 200,000 dogs rabies vaccination campaign is taking place in Bali, Indonesia, with another 400,000 vaccines planned to be delivered to dogs in Bali before the end of 2023.
