Vetnews | Julie 2024 2 « BACK TO CONTENTS Mr Gert Steyn, Managing Director of SAVA, and I had the privilege to attend the International Veterinary Workforce Well-being Leadership Summit in Lisbon, Portugal from 5 to 7 June 2024. The goal of the summit was to establish a Global Collaboration to Improve Veterinary Workforce Well-being by utilizing a systems approach. Improving occupational well-being in the veterinary profession is a shared responsibility that requires collective action by all stakeholders in the animal health system and those who influence the systems that support it. Veterinary interest groups should work collectively to coordinate, facilitate, report, and enable accountability to effect long-term change. Global collaboration action across professions, settings, and regions; fairly representing all sectors of the profession; and unequivocally embracing the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility is necessary to address burnout and improve the well-being of veterinarians across the globe, now and in the future. However, quite recently when I used the term “Mental Health” I was reprimanded that I should rather use the term “Mental Well-being” as “Mental Health” has some negative connotations. Seeing that the Leadership Summit concentrated on the term “Well-being” I did some reading to clear my mind on what the different terms implied and how, if at all, they are related to each other. Employee or workforce well-being is defined as the overall mental, physical, emotional, and economic health of your employees. It’s influenced by various factors such as their relationships with co-workers, the decisions they make, and the tools and resources they have access to. Mental well-being, as a component of employee well-being, is our internal positive view that we are coping well psychologically with the everyday stresses of life and can work productively and fruitfully. Mental health is thus a state or level of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn and work well, and contribute to their community. It is an integral component of health and well-being that underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world we live in. Good mental health means we can realise our full potential and feel safe and secure. It also means we thrive in everyday life. Mental health is a basic human right. If an individual’s mental health is not at an optimal state, it might be due to some other condition that affects your mood, thinking or behaviour, such as stress and burnout. It was therefore apt that during the summit the following aspects were discussed: • How to create and sustain positive work and learning environments and culture. • Investment in measurement, assessment, strategies, and research. • How to support mental health and reduce stigma. • Address compliance, regulatory, and policy barriers for daily work. • To address compliance, regulatory, and policy barriers for daily work. • How to engage effective technology tools such as electronic recordkeeping, data sharing and AI. • How to institutionalize well-being as a long-term value; and • How to recruit and retain a diverse and inclusive healthy veterinary workforce. The core group that attended the summit was established as an international working committee to draft an International Veterinary Workforce Well-being Framework to be finalised by April 2025 for launching in July 2025. SAVA is privileged, honoured and proud to be part of this committee to ensure South Africa’s needs for a healthy veterinary workforce are addressed. May this be a cardinal step in addressing the shortcomings in our system to ensure quality veterinary care in the interest of Animal-, Human- and Environmental Health and Well-being. v Kind regards, Paul van der Merwe From the President Dear members, Well-being, Mental Wellness and Mental Health
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