Liberia One Health Country profile: Progress, gaps and way forward to enhance One Health implementation

31/05/2023

Buchannan — Informed by the urgent need for global collaboration, coordination and cooperation to address the increasing health threats at the environment, plant, animal and human interface, the Liberia One Health platform in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) organized a One Health Country Profiling Workshop. The three-day workshop was held from 29 to 31 May at the K-Plaza Hotel in Buchannan, Grand Bassa County. The workshop aimed to define Liberia’s One Health country profile and priority actions to be implemented in order to address identified gaps.

To achieve transformative change and prevent future pandemics, investments in health system strengthening is paramount. In the past, there was no existing tool to monitor the implementation of the One Health approach at country level. FAO, with the support of the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), therefore developed the innovative One Health Monitoring Tool (OHMT). This tool facilitates better engagement within and between sectors involved in management of health events occurring at ecosystem, plant-animal (terrestrial and aquatic) and human interface, to identify gaps and to monitor One Health progress in a country.

Promoting Enhanced Engagement Across Health systems for Effective Health Event Management

The OHMT provides guidance to countries when addressing these challenges and builds upon existing frameworks such as the World Bank's operation framework, the One Health Systems Mapping and Analysis Resource Toolkit (OH SMART), and the OH Assessment Planning for Performance (OH APP) tool. In addition, the information processed by the OHMT generates a comprehensive and reliable One Health country profile that can be used to inform One Health programming and support resource mobilisation, advocacy and communication on One Health.

During the opening ceremony of the three-day workshop, Arthur Bob Karnuah, the FAO-ECTAD National Project Coordinator in Liberia, while delivering the goodwill message on behalf of the FAO Representative, stated that "the elaboration of the One Health Liberia country profile, will pave the way for enhanced preparedness, prevention, and response to zoonotic diseases, plant diseases, and antimicrobial resistance. This profile serves as a valuable tool, shedding light on the level of institutionalization and operationalization within sectors, ultimately fostering a safer, healthier future for all."

A total of 40 participants, including representatives from the National One Health Platform (NOHP) and various sectors (forestry, wildlife, environment, agriculture, animal resources, public health, fisheries) WHO country office, AFROHUN, WOAH-Africa, USAID Breakthrough Action, GIZ and Conservation Works attended the workshop.

The preliminary result of the sector-level comparative analysis based on the inputs made by the sectoral experts that participated at the workshop showed that the public health sector is doing fairly well, followed by the animal health sector while the environment and wildlife sectors are considerably lagging behind.

Advertus Nyan Mianah, the representative from the Ministry of Health and the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL), indicated that “the results of the country profiling is a landmark achievement which will be used to inform further actions.”

An Updated OHMT

The OHMT, developed in consultation with WHO, WOAH, the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), was piloted in four countries (Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia and Tanzania) under the leadership of the respective One Health platform in late 2021 and in 2022. This piloting allowed to refine and improve the tool according to the needs of each country. The revised OHMT includes specific indicators for the wildlife and environment sectors and it is aligned with the newly developed Quadripartite One Health Joint Plan of Action (OH JPA) 2022-2026.

FAO: One Health

Contact:

Bruce Boweh
Communication Specialist, FAO Liberia
[email protected]

Yanira Santana
Emergency Reporting and Outreach Specialist
FAO ECTAD Africa
[email protected]