Tamale, Nov. 6, GNA - The Ghana Veterinary Medical Association on Thursday held its 35th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Tamale in the Northern Region, with a called on government to help revamp the collapsing livestock industry, to increase the protein diet of Ghanaians and give employment to people.

Dr. Tia Sugri Alfred, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, commended the veterinary doctors for helping to eradicate animal diseases including the deadly cattle disease, Rindepest since 2005. He said the veterinary profession was undergoing rapid changes and challenges to meet the demand of society in the field of food security, food safety, public health and animal welfare, and urged the doctors to update their knowledge so that they can reduce the emerging transfer of diseases from animal to humans.

Dr. Sugri said with the establishment of the two new veterinary schools at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University of Ghana, Legon, more veterinary professionals would soon be joining to contribute their quota to animal health and production in Ghana. He said the government had the livestock industry at heart and would do its best to revamp the sector through the Livestock Development Project, which would help strengthen the animal health delivery sector. The AGM was on the theme, "One world, one medicine, one health". The President of the Ghana Veterinary Medical Association, Dr. K. B. Darkwa, said the ultimate goal of the profession is to achieve a sustainable food security and good health through public health.

He said Veterinaries contribute to human health by promoting the health of animals, which provide the necessary income, food, transportation, draught power, and the raw materials for clothing throughout the world. Dr. Darkwa said this was particularly important in developing countries where food from animals help to improve the nutritional status of malnourished people, by providing high quality protein and micronutrients. The Northern Regional Minister, Mr. Steven Sumani Nayina, observed that the increasing number of alien herdsmen crossing the borders daily in search for grazing lands and water contributes to the emergence of new diseases into the country.

He urged the veterinaries to collaborate and cooperate with colleagues in human medicine, public health, and other medical bodies, to accomplish more, to improve animal and human health in the country.