Elders, animals, compassion is more of what we need to help our communities become more health literate and learning patience and respect. October is health literacy month.

It’s more than “knowledge” it is taking the appropriate actions for your and other’s health and being advocates for local and global change. This is across the globe as it includes animals — October 4th world animal day to commemorate St. Francis of Assisi.

When I ask friends, what does your pet mean to you? or how did your pet help you during COVID lockdowns, the answers I get are consistent with the evidence that pets help by minimizing stress, furry animals in particular “give warmth and love” to their owners who attribute “good health” to these little (or big) creatures. Teaching children to take care of pets, including respecting the larger environment, helps them become more active in their communities.

Global Health Literacy goes to Taipei, Taiwan this year virtually (more to come on that later)! Keep learning about how you can contribute to your community’s pro-animal efforts:

• Be generous
• Be proactive about your health in understanding how to minimise stress
• Get animals spade or neutered (microchips a must for house pets)
• Respect all creatures big and small
• Adopt and feed stray animals
• Remember some animals are becoming extinct, educate yourself and donate to organisations like Greenpeace

A big Thank You to all the animals who posed for us for health literacy month !