In January 2021, Chevron partnered with Southeast Asia One Health University Network (SEAOHUN) and other public agencies to increase health literacy and an understanding of the One Health approach, with the launch of a program called, “Strengthening One Health Education in Southeast Asia”.
The two-year program covers One Health education for school children and their teachers, university students and their professors, as well as healthcare professionals who are 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 integrative effort of multiple disciplines —working at the local, regional, national, and global levels—to attain optimal health for people, animals, and their shared environment.
The objective of this program is to promote the ‘One Health’ concept among students, school officials and teachers in Thai border schools, support 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, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The program plans to train 50 primary school teachers to incorporate One Health into their teaching curricula, provide One Health education to 1000 primary school children, engage 200 university students in regional student activities and provide One Health training to 230 in-service professionals.
About Chevron
As a leading energy company in the Asia-Pacific region, Chevron provides affordable, reliable, and ever-cleaner energy for millions of people. We create local economic opportunities, contribute to the energy security of the region’s nations, and strive to empower people to meet their full potential. We are active in Australia, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand. With some of the most productive and long-established energy basins in the world, we are applying human ingenuity and advanced technology to develop major capital projects, increase production from mature fields and explore new energy resources.
About SEAOHUN
Southeast Asia One Health University Network (SEAOHUN), established in late 2011 with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is the regional network of 92 universities in 8 Southeast Asian countries working together to develop a resilient and competent One Health workforce to effectively prevent, detect and respond to infectious disease threats by leveraging education, research, and training excellence provided by member universities. SEAOHUN advocates for the role of universities to a) build the capacity of professionals across sectors to solve complex One Health issues, b) conduct research for evidence-based decision making, and c) assist governments with public health surge capacity.
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