Prioritising planetary health
Awarded an Order of Australia in 2011 for her outstanding contribution to international development, Professor Robyn Alders is a veterinarian with a passion for food and nutrition security.
For the last 20 years Robyn has worked with smallholder farmers overseas to develop a vaccination program for chickens. In many parts of the world chickens provide a healthy alternative to bushmeat which may have health risks and excessive hunting negatively impacts natural ecosystems. But chickens have their own problems too.
For example, in Madagascar farmers had previously had difficulty keeping chickens due to high mortality rates as a result of Newcastle disease (ND), however in working with San Francisco Zoo and Harvard University Robyn was able to suggest a solution. The ND vaccination program established in 2016, means that farmers are able to earn a living and feed their families while simultaneously injecting new jobs into the community.
My focus has largely been on doing something useful through applied research to improve the food and nutrition security of people in resource-poor settings.
“Across the world women suffer high rates of anaemia and in low- and middle-income countries it afflicts approximately 50 percent of women of reproductive age.” Said Robyn.
“So clearly, enabling women to access and utilise quality food can make a significant contribution to the reduction of iron-deficiency anaemia.”
The ND vaccination program created by Robyn is produced locally and training sessions have been organised so the community can manage the problem hands-on.
“In our activities we seek to involve local people in all aspects, from opportunities to become a vaccinator to holding leadership positions within projects.
“Opportunities for women to learn and demonstrate their ability to contribute to improving food and nutrition security will help women to live more dignified lives and fulfil their potential.”
Robyn is now looking at the broader problems faced by developing communities and has continued to collaborate alongside a colleague from Harvard, Chris Golden. The pair are focused on creating a healthier global community through the Planetary Health Alliance. This initiative is concerned with the welfare of people and the environment and its members include universities as well as a number of NGOs.
“This is a new area of study that has emerged from previous interdisciplinary initiatives and works across multiple disciplines including the social sciences.” Said Robyn.
Planetary health puts human health front and centre, but also focuses on the ecological drivers that underpin human health.
“Globally we are facing interconnected crises of climate change, the double burden of under- and over-nutrition, pandemics, mass migration and economic downturn.
“To respond effectively we need a global coalition that promotes welfare in the broadest sense by recognising the inseparable interdependence of human and natural systems.
“No one individual, group or sector can deliver ethical and ecologically sustainable human and domestic animal diets.”
Robyn has had a varied and exciting career extending well beyond the normal duties of a veterinarian with field work that’s sent her across the world.
“My career path to date has been very unusual for an academic. I’ve worked for universities in low- and high-income countries, worked for International NGOs and worked for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.”
“I’ve been privileged to have been involved with some amazing endeavours across Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, the US and Australia.”