Fermoy centred on the river Blackwater and its hinterland is a fabulous ecosystem, centred around farming practices such as dairy, beef, sheep and equine production.
We also have forestry and ecotourism linked to fishing on the river Blackwater and walking activities in our numerous woods in the adjoining hinterland.
Sporting activities such as rowing have blossomed over the decades with development of the Fermoy Rowing Club.
This club continues to engender fitness and health among its members. In addition, these athletes create an awareness of Fermoy through national and international competitions.
‘One Health’ is a philosophy supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations, which at its core aims to create both awareness and associated actions toward a linked chain contribution between a healthy ecosystem, healthy food and healthy people.
Previous food production systems have created greater risks of antimicrobial resistance. In essence, this has meant that we are faced with a scenario that antibodies in use today to treat infections will not work in the future.
It has been estimated that up to 10,000 people will die annually in 10 years’ time because of failure of antibiotics to kill common infections.
Adopting the ‘One Health’ philosophy will reduce the risk of antimicrobial resistance and simultaneously, reduce our carbon footprint in our food production systems.
A nice example of a ‘One Health’ exercise is the actions of Tom O’Brien, Cullenagh, Fermoy. Tom, who is in his 90’s, has created a natural habitat for birds such as finches, yellow hammer and robins. In addition, he plants deciduous trees annually in hedgerows, which is a carbon sink for a healthy ecosystem.
ReproDoc Ltd is a Fermoy based diagnostics and analytics company supporting sustainable food production systems through sports, healthy nutrition and cleaner environment actions in the local area, in line with their efforts to promote One Health.
Directors Dr Dan and Aileen Ryan are proud to support the Fermoy Rowing Club in their endeavour to purchase rowing equipment for athletes wishing to compete on the national and international stage.
It is hoped that an awareness of the importance of the ‘One Health’ philosophy can be engendered, by creation of an awareness programme in conjunction with Fermoy Rowing Club.
