Bringing One Health discussions to the European Development Days

The Quadripartite partnership on One Health, which consists of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE),  held a brainstorming session titled ‘Strengthening national PATHways for a global One Health vision: Delivering on the One Health Joint Plan of Action of the Quadripartite’ as part of the European Development Days (EDDs) convened by the European Commission.

Gathering participants from EU institutions, civil society, governments, and international organizations, this interactive session provided a platform to discuss the importance of the One Health approach at all levels, challenges and opportunities and how the Quadripartite One Health Joint Plan of Action (OH JPA) offers an integrated package of support to countries. It also enabled the Quadripartite to gain audience perspectives and suggest solutions on how to strengthen an OH approach at a national or regional level.

Carla Montesi, the Director in charge of the European Union Green Deal and Digital Agenda at the European Commission Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA), opened the session with key remarks in which she welcomed the Quadripartite One Health Joint Plan of Action, highlighting that human, animal, and environmental health are interconnected today more than ever and that it is important to work together to face pressing challenges in the coming years.

One Health Joint Plan of Action (OH JPA)

Represented by Keith Sumption, FAO Chief Veterinary Officer; Peter Sousa Hoejskov, WHO Technical Officer for Food Safety and Zoonotic Diseases; Budimir Plavšić, Regional Representative for Europe, WOAH; and Janyl Moldalieva, Policy Officer, UNEP Brussels Office, the Quadripartite partners presented the One Health Joint Plan of Action (2022-2026). 

The four Quadripartite representatives described how this ambitious roadmap intends to guide the work of the four organizations on One Health with the aim of supporting their members and key stakeholders to strengthen One Health capacities, policies, approaches and leverage the needed investments to mainstream the One Health approach globally and locally. They also presented the framework for action with a set of activities and an integrated package of services that the four organizations can offer together to advance and sustainably scale up One Health.

One Health insights from the audience

Following the presentation, a number of interventions by the audience highlighted the need for significant investment to mainstream and integrate One Health into national policies and stressed that while attention to pandemic preparedness and the response was critical,  it also needs to include all sectors working together. Other points made included the need for proper protection of biodiversity and ecosystems, effective prevention of pathogens spillover, enhanced disease and zoonotic pathogen detection, strong data collection, analysis, and sharing, as well as capacity building at the country level.

In addition, stakeholders underlined the importance of inclusiveness and ownership by countries. 

The outcomes of this brainstorming session will contribute to the Quadripartite joint reflection on the implementation plan for the OH JPA.

You can read more on the session here.

You can read more on the Quadripartite on One Health here.

You can read more on FAO’s work on One Health here.