Chevron partnered with Southeast Asia One Health University Network (SEAOHUN) and other public agencies in January 2021 to launch a program called “Strengthening One Health Education in Southeast Asia.”
The partnership aims to increase health literacy and understanding of the One Health approach. The two-year program covers One Health education for school children and their teachers, university students and their professors, and healthcare professionals solving complex issues in their communities. The increased knowledge and practice of One Health will better prepare Southeast Asia to combat infectious disease outbreaks originating from animals.
“One Health” is an integrated effort of multiple disciplines working at the local, regional, national and global levels to attain optimal health for people, animals and their shared environment. It aims to promote the ‘One Health’ concept among students, school officials and teachers in Thai border schools, support the expansion of SEAOHUN programs to new member countries, create a regional student program and promote the One Health success story of the ‘Lawa model’ to make it widely accessible.
The program, which runs through December 2022, aims to improve public health literacy in children to lay the foundation for effective public responses to infectious disease threats in the future, foster One Health University Networks and develop One Health leaders in Southeast Asia, and train health professionals from all member countries to apply the integrative One Health approach with active community engagement.
Member countries include Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
The program plans to train 50 primary school teachers to incorporate the One Health principle in their teaching curricula, provide One Health education to 1,000 primary school children, engage 200 university students in regional student activities and provide One Health training to 230 in-service professionals.
