“The NCOH will make it possible for us to realise far faster breakthroughs in the area of emerging infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance,” said Anton Pijpers on BNR news radio.
“By consolidating all scientific knowledge we can realise far faster breakthroughs in the area of emerging infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance. For example, the development of new vaccines or alternatives antibiotics.” This is what Anton Pijpers, Vice-Chair of the Executive Board of Utrecht University and one of the initiators of the Netherlands Centre for One Health (NCOH) said on 28 January 2016 during an interview on BNR news radio.
The theme One Health is particularly important in a densely populated country like the Netherlands. Seventeen million people and 120 million animals live close together on a small area of land. Infectious diseases that have arisen somewhere in the world can easily transfer to the Netherlands, and vice versa. There is an urgent need to prevent and control infectious diseases worldwide and that can only be realised by consolidating knowledge and expertise within the domains of human medicine, veterinary medicine and the environment.
BNR interviewed Pijpers in the run-up to the official launch of the NCOH on Thursday 4 February.