Rwanda takes another leap at operationalizing One Health approach
FAO technically supports the implementation of the recently adopted One Health policy in the country
Collaboration and coordination among sectors is key to deal with and mitigate consequences of health and animal threats using the One Health approach.
That was the key message at a coordination meeting between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of Rwanda and its partners, to discuss the implementation strategy of Rwanda's new One Health Strategic Plan.
“One Health approach is an effective way to control and respond to public health threats,” said Charles Bebay, Regional Manager, FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD).
The government endorsed that five-year new One Health strategic plan in 2021 to contribute to the country's commitment in the prevention and control of zoonotic diseases and other public health threats in a healthy environment through multidisciplinary collaboration, research and community services.
“One Health Policy is paving the way to sustain One Health in Rwanda and that implementation of the policy is fostering collaboration and coordination among sectors to pre-empt and mitigate consequences of any health threats. These impacts, which might disrupt the socio-economic fabric, livelihood, food system, veterinary services, and public health,” said Emile Bienvenu, National Coordinator, One Health Multi-Sectoral Coordination Mechanism.
The plan was developed through the technical support of FAO with funding from United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Interconnected world
The Government of Rwanda endorsed the One Health approach in 2011 through the creation of a One Health Steering Committee and continues to demonstrate strong political will to institutionalize it across all relevant sectors, leading to the establishment of Rwanda's National One Health Platform or the One Health Multi-Sectoral Coordination Mechanism (OH-MCM).
The Mechanism leads the Government of Rwanda's multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approach to managing public health challenges at the human-animal-environment interfaces, including emerging and re-emerging pandemic and endemic threats.
Gualbert Gbehounou, FAO Country Representative in Rwanda, applauded the work that has been done by the One Health Platform, particularly the support to undertake the implementation of the One Health Policy in Rwanda. He emphasized that health conditions of human beings, animals, plants, and the environment are interlinked and therefore a holistic approach is a must if we want to address them in a systematic, sustainable and efficient way.
The World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted its commitment to supporting the One Health agenda in Rwanda through forging partnerships with others to ensure the multisectoral approach is well coordinated.
“WHO is planning to secure funds that will support the implementation of the One Health Policy and One Health Strategic Plan,” said Theopista KABUTENI of WHO, adding that, “the COVID-19 pandemic is a reminder that collaboration across sectors is absolutely critical for global health security. United we will better anticipate in global health threats and work to control risks animal sources and accelerating the international health regulation core capacities”.
In Rwanda, the One Health Platform has been in place since 2011 and it has been one of the pioneer countries in Eastern Africa. The formulation of the One Health platform was driven by a number of factors such as, the emerging global pandemic threat caused by the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and recently Ebola outbreak in West Africa, and ad-hoc response to zoonoses outbreaks due to lack of integrated government funding.
National and regional efforts to support One Health
FAO is currently chairing the tripartite platform, a partnership of FAO, WHO, the Animal Health Organization (OIE) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to implement One Health initiatives at global level.
The One Health approach has reduced the risk of new emerging pandemics through strengthening capacities to prevent, prepare for, detect, and respond to known and emerging public health threats due to the interface of humans, animals and the environment.
Endorsed by WHO, FAO, CDC, and the Global Health Security Agenda partnership, the One health policy has been successful in raising awareness on emerging One Health issues in the country, such as joint zoonotic disease investigations and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). As a result, the multi-sectoral National Action Plan to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance has been validated to ensure that continuity of successful prevention and treatment of infectious diseases with effective and safe medicines that are quality-assured, used responsibly and accessible to all who need them.
Africa is carrying out global efforts to support One Health programming to combat zoonotic diseases at the human-animal-ecosystem interface.
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