On its seventh anniversary on 6 May 2021 Humanimal Trust celebrated the first ever One Medicine Day, hosting a virtual global symposium as the culmination of the #StrongerTogether campaign.
Each year, Humanimal Trust marks the anniversary of its foundation in 2014 and celebrates the growing influence of One Medicine on the health and wellbeing of both humans and animals. At the same time, it is an opportunity to challenge the worlds of human and animal medicine to work more closely together for mutual and equitable benefit.
Drawing a global attendance from across the UK and Europe, as well as from as far afield as Chile, the US, Singapore and Australia, Humanimal Trust’s first ever virtual One Medicine Symposium, 'Stronger Together: How we can take One Medicine forward’, took place on One Medicine Day. It offered presentations by leading human and veterinary medical experts from around the world and a panel discussion focused on a One Medicine roadmap - showing the way to far greater collaboration between human and veterinary medicine and more equitable medical progress for both humans and animals.
Discussions on the day included the role of nurses in the future of One Medicine, the difference between One Health and One Medicine, and the opportunities and barriers to the development of a One Medicine approach. Attendees were invited to join the Humanimal Hub for One Medicine, an online platform bringing together professionals from human and animal healthcare and associated bioscience backgrounds, and to sign the Trust’s Pledge for One Medicine, which sets out what Humanimal Trust believes and is working to achieve. A post-event report will be available shortly via the Trust’s website and via the Humanimal Hub outlining discussions from the day.
The #StrongerTogether campaign also featured a photo competition focused on images that captured and celebrated the day to day collaboration and relationships with others that benefit us all, particularly during these challenging times. Attracting over 70 fantastic entries, the Grand Winner was Tracie Baxter with Wolfie, who won a hamper full of dog toys and treats with the action shot of them featured above, enjoying some quality time together. Our huge thanks to all who took part in the competition; the ten finalists (in no particular order) were:
Stephanie Meyers with Lenny, Lisa Murray-Lang with Spud, Kirsty Brennan with Niamh and Cara, Elaine Simons with Delphine, Yvonne Batten with Hugo, Jeni Ponting with Wicket and Jackson, Lucy Watts with Molly, Martin Richardson with Toby and Mia, Louise Stott with Arnold and Tracie Baxter with Wolfie.
Finally, our thanks to those Facebook Fundraisers who walked well over 2 million steps between them during April, raising funds in support of One Medicine as part of a 10K Steps a Day in April Challenge. The funds you raised are already hard at work driving collaboration in medical progress for the benefit of all humans and all animals.
Thank you for making One Medicine Day possible with your support - we're looking forward to One Medicine Day 2022!