Taking a Multisectoral One Health Approach : A Tripartite Guide to Addressing Zoonotic Diseases in Countries

The 2019 FAO-OIE-WHO (Tripartite) zoonoses guide, “Taking A Multisectoral, One Health Approach: A Tripartite Guide to Addressing Zoonotic Diseases in Countries” (2019 TZG) is being jointly developed to provide member countries with practical guidance on OH approaches to build national mechanisms for multisectoral coordination, communication, and collaboration to address zoonotic disease threats at the animal-human-environment interface. The 2019 TZG updates and expands on the guidance in the one previous jointly-developed, zoonoses-specific guidance document: the 2008 Tripartite “Zoonotic Diseases: A Guide to Establishing Collaboration between Animal and Human Health Sectors at the Country Level”, developed in WHO South-East Asia Region and Western Pacific Region.

Joint Risk Assessment Operational Tool (JRA OT): An Operational Tool of the Tripartite Zoonoses Guide

The 2019 TZG supports building by countries of the resilience and capacity to address emerging and endemic zoonotic diseases such as avian influenza, rabies, Ebola, and Rift Valley fever, as well as food-borne diseases and antimicrobial resistance, and to minimize their impacts on health, livelihoods, and economies. It additionally supports country efforts to implement WHO International Health Regulations (2005) and OIE international standards, to address gaps identified through external and internal health system evaluations, and to achieve targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The 2019 TZG provides relevant country ministries and agencies with lessons learned and good practices identified from country-level experiences in taking OH approaches for preparedness, prevention, detection and response to zoonotic disease threats, and provides guidance on multisectoral communication, coordination, and collaboration. It informs on regional and country-level OH activities and relevant unisectoral and multisectoral tools available for countries to use.

The JRA operational tool is part of the Tripartite Zoonoses Guide and is intended for use by staff from national ministries responsible for human health, animal health, and the environment, or other government agencies that are responsible for the control and management of zoonotic diseases, in particular epidemiologists, with the close involvement of laboratory staff, risk managers and communication officers. The operational tool presents the principles of JRA and its role in informing policy development. It provides guidance on how to set up a joint qualitative risk assessment process and describes step-by-step how to conduct each component of the process. The Annexes include model documents and templates to support implementation. A JRA provides decision-makers with scientifically sound advice that can be used to inform risk management and communication policies for an effective response to a zoonotic disease threat. Routine JRA supports international regulations, such as International Health Regulations and the OIE standards, by providing a mechanism to effectively address management decisions and communications based on a JRA. When done jointly and across the spectrum of different sectors they are more likely to be relevant and acceptable to all stakeholders, and therefore also more likely to be effective.

Multisectoral Coordination Mechanisms Operational Tool

The Multisectoral Coordination Mechanism Operational Tool (MCM OT) provides a standard stepwise approach for countries to establish or strengthen a mechanism for multisectoral, One Health coordination to manage zoonotic diseases, with references to principles and best practices described in the Tripartite Zoonosis Guide.

Surveillance and Information Sharing Operational Tool

The Surveillance and Information Sharing Operational tool (SIS OT) is a Tripartite (FAO, WHO, WOAH) tool developed under the leadership of FAO to support national authorities to establish or strengthen their coordinated, multisectoral surveillance and information sharing for zoonotic diseases. The SIS OT is based on the principles presented in the Tripartite Zoonosis Guide, in particular on “Surveillance for zoonotic diseases and information sharing”. It includes the guidance document with annexes and the Excel-based tool (SIS OT workbook). It is intended for use by a working group or in a workshop setting, by participants representing the animal health, human health, environmental health and other relevant sectors within a country that have responsibility for zoonotic diseases. It provides guidance and a stepwise method and instrument for assessing the national structures and mechanisms already in place. It links users to a curated set of existing resources developed by the Tripartite and other institutions that can help develop or improve that capacity. Finally, the SIS OT guides development of a roadmap and SIS development plan to use those resources to bridge existing structures and build or strengthen the country’s coordinated surveillance system.

Download the Excel-based tool (SIS OT workbook)

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