Summary
'A
war against disease requires not only financial resources, sufficient
technology, and political commitment, but also a strategy, operational
lines of responsibility, and the capacity to learn along the way',
according to J.D. Sachs. In our interdependent world, it is increasingly
apparent that health is a global public good that requires collaboration
across borders and generates transnational benefits. The same holds
true for the information and knowledge necessary to uphold and defend
it. It is only through collaboration that we can confront the complexity
presented by host interactions and movement, genetic variability and
environmental factors, ranging from chemical contamination to climate
change. The Internet is an unprecedented tool for communication and
collaboration which we need to use to best advantage for our purposes,
be it to create value by combining data from various sources, harness
mass reporting modalities, such as really simple syndication (RSS)
feeds and blogs for surveillance and monitoring, participate in online
ideas markets to spur research, use wikis to develop and share educational
resources, or assemble virtual teams of experts as required. These
are the skills for the 21st century which will facilitate disease
prevention, early detection and rapid response to help protect human
lives and livelihoods and to reduce the mass destruction of animals.
Keywords
Animal
disposal, Collaboration, Disease prevention, Information technology,
Public health.
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