I recently attended the Irish OneHealth Workshop at Trinity College Dublin and while the content and speakers were brilliant I was really disappointed with myself for accepting the outdated attitude of the organisers of the meeting.
I arrived early, bought my ticket, got my camera recording equipment set up in the front row and asked the organiser Peter Stewart if he’d like the event livestreamed as I could do that as the WiFi signal was strong. He said he’d check and then nearly a hour later just before the talks started I was taken out of the room and told by Professor Celia Holland that I couldn’t record any of the talks as permission hadn’t been sought from the speakers. I asked if we could ask the speakers if they would give permission and was told that this wouldn’t be happening.
I have made some voice recordings (and I’ll be embedding them into this post when I get the chance) but they pale in comparison to video as all the speakers had great slide decks.
I think it’s abhorrent when there are trade secrets in healthcare because it’s as if business is more important than the lives that are at stake but I think it’s even worse in OneHealth as there’s no one in the industry who doesn’t realise there are huge deficits in funding and profile. Furthermore unlike in the sick care industry (where drug companies and pharma investors will bankroll trade secret innovations because you can easily market them directly to Patients or Doctors) most of the people with these OneHealth ideas have actually got no viable means of commercialising them as they require government legislation and public health programs in order to have any chance of success.
As discussed in the dedicated chapter of the HorseTech Market Report I think this is a good reminder why HorseFirst approaches to healthcare are advantageous above and beyond OneHealth approaches:
1) Horses provide a population of animals that legally have to be identified (chipped in the EU) and require an up to date vaccine record (in order to compete, be transported, etc).
2) Horses have a large public celebrity-like following and a gambling and event/hospitality industry that relies on them staying healthy and competing.
3) Horses have long optimised lives and the industry is constantly being challenged by a public that is increasingly vocal about animal cruelty. This creates an incentive for the industry to talk about things that are being done to advance our understanding of the science and practice of medicine.
What do you think?
NOTES FROM THE EVENT: (these are being updated with voice recordings etc so if you want to see these please bookmark the page and refresh it at a later date).
HorseTech Conference 