One Health leaders call for political will in implementation
At the Second Quadripartite Executive Annual Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, in February 2024, the leaders of the four organisations of the Quadripartite collaboration on One Health met to discuss efforts to implement and advance the One Health approach worldwide. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, UN Environment Programme, WHO, and World Organisation for Animal Health came together with each reaffirming their commitment to “further enhance” the One Health Joint Plan of Action.
One Health Joint Plan of Action
Launched in 2022, the One Health Joint Plan of Action is “designed to integrate systems and capacity” to enable better prevention, prediction, detection, and responses to health threats. The initiative aims to “improve the health of humans, animals, plants, and the environment” as well as contributing to “sustainable development”.
In December 2023 the corresponding Implementation Guide was launched to be a “cornerstone of the global efforts”. It builds on the Joint Plan of Action to describe three pathways and five key steps to support implementation at national level:
- Pathway 1 – Governance, policy, legislation, financing, and advocacy
- Pathway 2 – Organisational and institutional development, implementation, and sectoral integration
- Pathway 3 – Data, evidence, information systems, and knowledge exchange
The steps are:
- Situation analysis including stakeholder mapping and review of existing assessment results
- Set-up/strengthening of a multisectoral, One Health coordination mechanism
- Planning for implementation, including activity prioritisation and leveraging of resources
- Implementation of national One Health action plans
- Review, sharing, and incorporation of lessons learned
Sustained political will
WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus commented at the meeting that “we need sustained political will to ensure One Health principles are embedded in national and international policies”.
“Implementation in countries, resource mobilisation, science and evidence, and political will. These are the four priorities that we must pursue together in the year ahead.”
Dr Amina Benyahia, Head a.i. WHO One Health Initiative, described the “ultimate goal and value” of the collaboration as “effecting positive changes at the country level”.
“By empowering countries, strengthening health systems, and fostering cross-sectoral collaboration, we have the opportunity to drive transformative change from the ground up to achieve improved health and well-being globally.”
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