Biomaterial Database

Integrating the issues of global and public health into the veterinary education curriculum: a European perspective. 2009

L J A Lipman, and F van Knapen

Institute of Risk Assessment Sciences, Veterinary Public Health Division, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Utrecht, P.O. Box 80175, 3508 TD Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Veterinary public health is an essential field in public health activities, based upon veterinary skills, knowledge and resources and which aims to protect and improve human health and welfare. This discipline has evolved through three stages, beginning with the fight against animal diseases, moving on to include meat inspection and control of zoonoses and now encompassing a much broader health sciences education, with the goal of guaranteeing a safe and wholesome food supply, protecting human wellbeing and conserving the environment. Within the veterinary medicine curriculum, veterinary public health has undergone a similar development. At first, it was mainly concerned with slaughterhouse-based courses but in time it included the teaching of such subjects as epidemiology, the control of communicable (zoonotic) diseases and emergency preparedness. Veterinary medical faculties in Europe have adjusted their curricula over the past few years to reflect these changes in the subject and to meet the need for specialisation. It could be said that veterinary public health education has literally moved from the local abattoir to the global community. In this paper, the authors briefly discuss examples of veterinary medicine curricula at different universities. The veterinary public health curriculum of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht, is then discussed in detail, as an example of the European perspective on integrating global and public health issues into the veterinary curriculum.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D003247	Conservation of Natural Resources	The protection, preservation, restoration, and rational use of all resources in the total environment.	Carrying Capacity,Deforestation,Desertification,Environmental Protection,Natural Resources Conservation,Protection, Environmental,Capacities, Carrying,Capacity, Carrying,Carrying Capacities,Conservation, Natural Resources
D003479	Curriculum	A course of study offered by an educational institution.	Curricula,Short-Term Courses,Course, Short-Term,Courses, Short-Term,Short Term Courses,Short-Term Course
D004520	Education, Veterinary	Use for general articles concerning veterinary medical education.	Veterinary Education,Educations, Veterinary,Veterinary Educations
D005060	Europe	The continent north of AFRICA, west of ASIA and east of the ATLANTIC OCEAN.	Northern Europe,Southern Europe,Western Europe
D005523	Food Supply	The production and movement of food items from point of origin to use or consumption.	Food Supply Chain,Chain, Food Supply,Food Supplies,Food Supply Chains,Supplies, Food,Supply Chain, Food,Supply Chains, Food,Supply, Food
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D014730	Veterinary Medicine	The medical science concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in animals.	Medicine, Veterinary
D014943	Global Health	A multi- and interdisciplinary field concerned with improving health and achieving equity in health for all people. It transcends national boundaries, promotes cooperation and collaboration within and beyond health science fields, and combines population-based disease prevention with individually-based patient care.	International Health Problems,World Health,International Health,Worldwide Health,Health Problem, International,Health Problems, International,Health, Global,Health, International,Health, World,Health, Worldwide,Healths, International,International Health Problem,International Healths,Problem, International Health,Problems, International Health
D033183	Interdisciplinary Communication	Communication, in the sense of cross-fertilization of ideas, involving two or more academic disciplines (such as the disciplines that comprise the cross-disciplinary field of bioethics, including the health and biological sciences, the humanities, and the social sciences and law). Also includes differences in patterns of language usage in different academic or medical disciplines.	Communication Research,Cross-Disciplinary Communication,Multidisciplinary Communication,Communication, Cross-Disciplinary,Communication, Interdisciplinary,Communication, Multidisciplinary,Communications, Cross-Disciplinary,Communications, Interdisciplinary,Communications, Multidisciplinary,Cross Disciplinary Communication,Cross-Disciplinary Communications,Interdisciplinary Communications,Multidisciplinary Communications,Research, Communication