Beware two global health scares
vaccination

A veterinary source said in Bulawayo this week that the antibiotics leave a “residue” in the animals which causes complications in the treatment with antibiotics of sick people who consume the meat containing the residue.

Perspective Stephen Mpofu
WHEN drugs that are supposed to hunt with the hounds to save lives start also proverbially to run with the hares, global concern is roused.This is what is reported to be happening today as a result of people abusing antibiotics when treating animals and poultry.

A veterinary source said in Bulawayo this week that the antibiotics leave a “residue” in the animals which causes complications in the treatment with antibiotics of sick people who consume the meat containing the residue.

International news reports also said this week that the United States and eventually Europe plan to scale down on the use and eventually stop administering antibiotics altogether on livestock and poultry in order to save human lives.

According to the reports, health experts suggest instead that animals and poultry meant for slaughter be kept in clean places to protect them from attack by disease.

It is apparently believed that, cleanliness being next to godliness as it were will safeguard the health of people and the animals that provide meat as part of their diet.

The Zimbabwean veterinary scientist, on the other hand, thinks that a tight rein on the supply of drugs is a prudent way to stop the abuse of antibiotics which, he said, was causing a “global concern”.

In this regard, said the source, the powers that be should take measures to ensure that no prescription drugs are sold over the counter in pharmacies, as what is believed to happen when people who keep poultry or rear cattle rush to drug stores seeking antibiotics to save their sick animals or chickens.

The international reports also suggest that authorities in Africa, where “a lot of meat is consumed”, take appropriate measures to prevent indiscriminate use of antibiotics drugs.

Many Zimbabweans in urban areas and to some extent in the rural areas also, now keep poultry as both a source of income and nutrition for their families.

It certainly goes without saying that some of these people are ignorant of the right dosage that should be applied in treating their sick animals and chickens and so an abuse of the antibiotics is wont to result with dire consequences for people eating the meat that is over-drugged.

Diseases spawned by climate change as a result of global warming have also become a source of worry around the globe, with malaria becoming particularly worrisome as some strains of this disease have become resistant to normal treatment.

A source at the Ministry of Health and Child Care said three days ago that the upsurge in malaria needed decisive, corporate action to safeguard lives.

International reports have suggested that health personnel in countries prone to malarial attacks be equipped with proper knowledge and skills in combating the disease that claims many lives, especially in developing countries including Zimbabwe.

Asked by this pen if Zimbabwean health workers are being retrained to equip them with the knowledge to fight malaria, the health ministry source said health workers on their own could not be expected to successfully fight malaria, caused by the female anopheles mosquito.

The source said a multi-sectoral approach, where other people undertook measures to mitigate the effects of climate change, would effectively deal with the malarial menace.

Climate change which causes floods and recurrent droughts — both phenomena being responsible for current poor harvests in countries in southern Africa including Zimbabwe, has resulted largely from advanced and upcoming economies pumping toxic carbon gases into the atmosphere so that the sun’s rays are trapped and cannot bounce back from earth, thereby heating up the globe with disastrous consequences that innocent smaller nations must now grapple with.

 

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