Assoc. Prof. Jackie Benschop

Assoc. Prof. Jackie Benschop
School of Veterinary Science, Massey University

Biography

Associate Professor Jackie Benschop co-directs the Molecular Epidemiology and Public Health Laboratory, an OIE collaborating centre for Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health, in the School of Veterinary Science, Massey University. Jackie is a veterinarian with 20 years’ experience working in clinical practice and in the meat industry in New Zealand and the UK. Her interests include disease at the human-animal interface, cross-sector collaboration, science communication and mentoring of staff and students. She is the mother of 4 adult children, co-founder of the African Leptospirosis Network, executive committee member of the World Health Organisation’s Global Leptospirosis Environmental Action Network, Management Group Member of One Health Aotearoa and Foundation Member of the ANZCVS Veterinary Public Health Chapter.

Keynote

A Global Disease but a Local Phenomenom

Leptospirosis is a globally important multi-host, multi-pathogen zoonosis with over 1 million cases and  60,000 deaths annually. Humans are infected through contact with urine from infected mammals including wildlife, rodents, farmed species and pets. Despite extensive nationwide intervention measures, leptospirosis remains an unacceptable burden on New Zealanders particularly those living in rural communities and on Māori. Famers and meat-workers remain most at risk and key intervention strategies for these occupations are the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and animal vaccination. I will present our work on leptospirosis at the human-animal interface with focus on meat-workers who are required to use PPE yet have no say in the vaccination status of animals they are exposed to.