Since 2004, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) have cooperated in the Global Framework for the Progressive Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases (GF-TADs) to reduce the threat from transboundary animal diseases (TADs) to food security, livelihoods and safe trade. The GF-TADs is a coordination mechanism established to safeguard its Members from repeated incursions of infectious animal disease epidemics, to enhance safe trade in animals and animal products, and to improve food and nutrition security by reducing the damaging effects of TADs. To reach these long-term goals, the GF-TADs Strategy for 2021?2025 aims to enhance the control of TADs through the establishment of priority TADs strategies at the regional and sub-regional level, by developing the capacity to prevent and control TADs, and by improving the sustainability of priority TADs strategies through multi-disciplinary partnerships. The ultimate goals of the global strategy are to improve food security and nutrition, to reduce poverty and to enhance safe trade in livestock and animal products by reducing repeated incursions and the further spread of infectious disease epidemics. The GF-TADs Strategy was developed through a ‘Theory of Change’ model and is described as a series of objectives. Chapters describe the management of the GF-TADs Strategy, resource mobilization and a framework for monitoring and evaluation, with clear indicators. In addition, the strategy provides an overview of the GF-TADs governance model and its global priority diseases.
Neglected parasitic zoonoses, such as cysticercosis and echinococcosis, are a group of zoonoses that continue to impose a significant burden and affect livelihoods of the vulnerable populations that typically have limited access to adequate sanitation, basic living conditions, health and veterinary services and awareness. Recognising the disease burden and importance of a multisectoral approach to controlling and eliminating neglected parasitic zoonoses, in 2018 the Regional Tripartite jointly organised a regional workshop on neglected foodborne parasitic zoonoses. To control zoonoses in an efficient, effective and sustainable way, it is important to understand the transmission cycle of each disease and to implement strategic interventions at key stages via multisectoral participation from public health, animal health, environmental health and food safety. Prevention and control of infection in animals is one of the critical means to reduce the burden of zoonoses in humans, therefore the animal health sector has a very important role to play. However, awareness and knowledge are often limited among veterinary authorities, public health practitioners, animal health practitioners and animal owners. This handbook focuses on interventions that the animal health sector can implement to prevent human and animal disease caused by these parasites. It aims to provide up-to-date information in a concise form and is expected to encourage the relevant stakeholders to take actions to control and prevent neglected parasitic zoonoses. Although the handbook was written primarily for Asia and the Pacific region, the information is relevant in many other regions. We hope you find this handbook useful and practical.
The Quadripartite Organizations – the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE), and the World Health Organization (WHO) – collaborate to drive the change and transformation required to mitigate the impact of current and future health challenges at the human–animal– plant–environment interface at global, regional and country level. Responding to international requests to prevent future pandemics and to promote health sustainably through the One Health approach, the Quadripartite has developed the One Health Joint Plan of Action (2022–2026) (OH JPA). The OH JPA outlines the commitment of the four organizations to collectively advocate and support the implementation of One Health. It builds on, complements and adds value to existing global and regional One Health and coordination initiatives aimed at strengthening capacity to address complex multidimensional health risks with more resilient health systems at global, regional and national level.
The 2018 FAO-OIE-WHO (Tripartite) zoonoses guide, “Taking A Multisectoral, One Health Approach: A Tripartite Guide to Addressing Zoonotic Diseases in Countries” (2018 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 2018 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. The 2018 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 2018 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 Guide to implement the One Health Joint Plan of Action (OH JPA) at national level has been developed collaboratively by the four Quadripartite organizations, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), and the World Health Organization (WHO). The Guide is complementary to the OH JPA, which was launched in October 2022 in response to international requests to prevent future pandemics and to promote health sustainably through the One Health approach. Thus the Guide serves as an operational addendum to OH JPA, translating the objectives and high-level activities described in the OH JPA into national level context. The purpose of this Guide is to provide countries with countries with practical guidance on how to implement the One Health approach through the adoption and adaptation of the OH JPA, aligning with the three pathways of the theory of change. The Guide has an inclusive scope to allow every country to use it, regardless of its status with respect to One Health development and implementation.
The 8th Asia Pacific workshop on multisectoral collaboration at the animal-human-ecosystems interface was held in Bangkok, Thailand from 9 to 11 April 2019. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) hosted the workshop in collaboration with the Regional Tripartite, which included FAO, World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO). A total of 142 participants attended this workshop including representatives from national governments of 28 countries in the Asia Pacific region, regional organizations, academic institutions, experts and development partners working on human health, animal health and wildlife issues.
Following the 27th Tripartite Annual Executive Meeting, the FAO Programme Committee in its 130th session, March 2021, requested the joint development, by the Tripartite (FAO/WHO/WOAH) and others, of a strategy and action plan to prevent future zoonotic pandemics through the One Health approach. The One Health Joint Plan of Action (OH JPA) is intended to guide the four organizations of the Quadripartite to work together on One Health with the aim of supporting their Members to build One Health capacities. It provides a framework for action and proposes a set of activities that the four organizations can offer together to enable countries to advance and scale up One Health in managing human, animal, plant and environment health threats. The framework uses a One Health approach to strengthen collaboration, communication, advocacy, and coordination equally across all sectors responsible for addressing health concerns at the human-animal-plant-environment interface.
The first meeting of the GCC-FMD was organized virtually under the umbrella of the GF-TADs, by its FMD Working Group (WG), during 22-23 September 2021. The participants included representatives of 13 GCC-FMD Standing Member organizations, 10 Observers, representatives from the FAO and OIE regional offices, the representatives from FAO/OIE regional Reference Centres, the head of the FAO/OIE World Reference Laboratory for FMD (WRLFMD, The Pirbright Institute, UK). The FMD-WG, is looking to this committee to guide in the final phase of the implementation of the FAO/OIE Global FMD Control Strategy, through sharing information and experiences, improving the alignment and coordination of regional initiatives with the FAO/OIE Global FMD control strategy and eventually developing a 5-year global FMD action plan. The overall purpose of the GCC-FMD is to: (i) Facilitate the implementation of the Global strategy as it is entering the final phase of its implementation; (ii) Enhance information exchange and coordination at regional level; (iii) Enable replication of success across regions. The Standing members elected the Chair (PANAFTOSA) and Co-chair (GFRA) for 3-year term (2021-2023). Ms. Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director General, FAO and Ms. Monique Eloit, Director General, OIE graced the opening session of the first meeting of the newly established GCC-FMD. The expected outcomes of the meeting were: (i) Better understanding of FMD dynamics and control strategies/initiatives at global, regional and national levels; (ii) Enhanced coordination and communication among the stakeholders to better implement the global FMD control strategy for significant impact; (iii) SWOT analysis of regional initiatives w.r.t the three components of the Global FMD control Strategy and identification of potential solutions; (iv) Identified next steps for the development of action plan for next phase of the global FMD control strategy; (v) Advocacy and better understanding of development partners and stakeholders on FMD control initiatives and their impact.
The Multisectoral Coordination Mechanisms Operational Tool (MCM OT) was developed by the Tripartite organizations (FAO, WOAH (EX.OIE) and WHO) and technical experts to support national authorities to provide additional support in the area of establishing or strengthening government mechanisms for multisectoral coordination for zoonotic disease and other One Health challenges. These mechanisms allow countries to coordinate administrative and technical activities that support efficient and effective collaboration for improved health security, preparedness and response to One Health threats.
This technical report replaces or supersedes issue-related contents in previous WHO foundational documents on oral rabies vaccination (ORV) of dogs. In contrast to the 2007 WHO recommendations, this report will shift focus from the development of suitable vaccines and baits for dogs towards providing guidance for practical implementation of ORV as a tool integrated into national strategies to control rabies in dog populations. This report therefore mainly addresses basic regulatory considerations for licensing and selection of appropriate oral vaccine candidates, logistics, distribution strategies in the field, communication, activities to be implemented in relation to ORV campaigns, and monitoring of campaigns. It should be emphasized that it is impossible to establish a universally valid and applicable blueprint for the integration of ORV into national strategies for the control of canine rabies. This is not least due to country-specific circumstances, including sociocultural aspects, epidemiological situations, local dog population structures, funding, and available resources. Therefore, countries should use this guiding document to find their own strategic and practical approach.
This report summarizes the activities and results achieved in 2023 by the 26 experts of the One Health High-Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP). [Author] The first term of OHHLEP, initially set to expire in June 2023, was extended until December 2023 to allow for the completion of remaining deliverables and for the preparation for a second Term of OHHLEP by the Quadripartite. [Author] The Quadripartite updated the OHHLEP Terms of Reference for a second two-year term to focus on the implementation of the One Health approach and the One Health Joint Plan of Action (OH JPA) and launched a call for expressions of interest to renew the membership of the OHHLEP. [Author]
An Operational Tool of the Tripartite Zoonoses Guide – Taking a Multisectoral, One Health Approach: A Tripartite Guide to Addressing Zoonotic Diseases in Countries
An Operational Tool of the Tripartite Zoonoses Guide – Taking a Multisectoral, One Health Approach: A Tripartite Guide to Addressing Zoonotic Diseases in Countries
Zoonotic diseases, i.e. those affecting animals and humans, need a different, holistic approach to risk assessment engaging all sectors involved in their management and control. Joint Risk Assessment (JRA) brings these sectors together to assess risks from zoonotic disease threats at the animal-human-environmental interface jointly. 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.
This Handbook was developed by WHO and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) to facilitate the assessment of public health capacities in countries for areas in which veterinary services contribute to the implementation of the IHR (2005). It highlights complementarities between the WHO IHR Monitoring Tool and the Performance of Veterinary Services (PVS) Pathway, and aims at facilitating annual reporting on country compliance with IHR (2005) requirements by using the results of the PVS Pathway missions. Through this process, it also endeavours to highlight the importance of the collaboration between the human and animal health sectors.--Publisher description
Pandemic prevention and preparedness are at the top of everyone’s mind as the world continues to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, however, the threats posed by the silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance to human, animal, and plant health, food production, and the environment have not ceased and are steadily growing. More than ever before, we know that addressing the interlinked and multi-faceted challenges posed by antimicrobial resistance requires that we work together – across sectors, government, academic disciplines, civil society, the private sector, and the multilateral system – to advance a One Health approach. This strategic framework on antimicrobial resistance represents an important milestone in the decades-long history of collaboration between the Tripartite organizations - a collaboration that now is even stronger as a result of our close engagement with the United Nations Environment Programme. The framework sets out for the first time what our organizations – as leaders in the multilateral system on the human, animal, plant, and environmental health – will do jointly to support countries’ efforts to scale up national responses to antimicrobial resistance. Countries and partners are strongly encouraged to replicate and amplify the One Health approach used in the framework, based on their own contexts and needs.
Although there is debate about the estimated health burden of rabies, the estimates of direct mortality and the DALYs due to rabies are among the highest of the neglected tropical diseases. Poor surveillance, underreporting in many developing countries, frequent misdiagnosis of rabies, and an absence of coordination among all the sectors involved are likely to lead to underestimation of the scale of the disease It is clear, however, that rabies disproportionately affects poor rural communities, and particularly children. Most of the expenditure for post- exposure prophylaxis is borne by those who can least afford it. As a result of growing dog and human populations, the burden of human deaths from rabies and the economic costs will continue to escalate in the absence of concerted efforts and investment for control. Since the first WHO Expert Consultation on Rabies in 2004, WHO and its network of collaborating centres on rabies, specialized national institutions, members of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Rabies and partners such as the Gates Foundation, the Global Alliance for Rabies Control and the Partnership for Rabies Prevention, have been advocating the feasibility of rabies elimination regionally and globally and promoting research into sustainable cost-effective strategies. Those joint efforts have begun to break the cycle of rabies neglect, and rabies is becoming recognized as a priority for investment. This Consultation concluded that human dog-transmitted rabies is readily amenable to control, regional elimination in the medium term and even global elimination in the long term. A resolution on major neglected tropical diseases, including rabies, prepared for submission to the World Health Assembly in May 2013 aims at securing Member States' commitment to the control, elimination or eradication of these diseases. Endorsement of the resolution would open the door for exciting advances in rabies prevention and control."--Publisher's description.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been recognized as one of the greatest global threats to humans, animals, plants and ecosystems health threatening the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. In our globally connected world, resistance to antimicrobials may spread and circulate among humans, animals, plants and the environment, necessitating a “One Health” approach. While the One Health approach is relevant to all efforts to prevent and control AMR, this priority research agenda focuses on research areas at the interface between sectors. This research agenda is a joint product of the Quadripartite organizations –FAO, UNEP, WHO and WOAH - and a result of extensive stakeholder and expert engagement. A structured mixed-methods approach was used including reviews of academic and grey literature, online open global survey, and consensus exercise by modified Delphi method in which global experts prioritized research areas for the five pillars: transmission, integrated surveillance, interventions, behavioral insights and change, and economics and policy. We hope this research agenda will serve as a guiding tool for countries, research institutes and funding bodies to support for One Health AMR research, helping policymakers, researchers and the multidisciplinary scientific community to work together across sectors on solutions that will prevent and mitigate AMR on a national, regional and global scale as further evidence on research strategies, interventions and policies is required to understand what works, in which contexts and for whom.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major health threat to humans, animals, plants and the environment. One of the key drivers of AMR is the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials in animal production, including in aquaculture. Therefore, monitoring the use of antimicrobials in farm animals is essential to mitigate AMR. The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE) has been collecting data, mainly coming from national sales and imports records of antimicrobials, from its members on antimicrobial agents intended for use in animals since 2015. To complement this information and improve decision-making, farm-level antimicrobial use (AMU) data are needed, as it allows for better understanding of how antimicrobials are used in the field. Therefore, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAO RAP), the WOAH Regional Representation for Asia and the Pacific (WOAH RRAP) and the WOAH Sub-Regional Representation for South-East Asia (WOAH SRR-SEA) developed a joint guideline on Monitoring antimicrobial use at the farm level. The guideline provides detailed guidance on establishing a farm-level AMU monitoring system: conducting a situational analysis; establishing an operational mechanism; technical preparation. The recommendations cover both terrestrial and aquatic food-producing animals and consider the wide range of AMU monitoring capacities in Asia and the Pacific and beyond. The target users of this guideline are the competent authorities, research institutions and agrifood industry actors who plan to develop or improve an AMU monitoring system at the farm level.
The Surveillance and Information Sharing Operational Tool (SIS OT) was developed by the Tripartite organizations (FAO, WHO and OIE) and technical experts to support national authorities to establish or strengthen a One Health multisectoral coordinated surveillance and information sharing system for zoonotic diseases. It provides a stepwise assessment to evaluate a country's existing surveillance capacity, identify activities and create a roadmap and workplan, while linking users to a toolbox of existing resources. Staff from national ministries responsible for management of zoonotic diseases will find it useful to increase the level of coordinated surveillance capacity.
The PPR Secretariat, the OIE Working Group on Wildlife, and the PPR Global Research and Expertise Network (GREN) have jointly developed these guidelines for PPR prevention, outbreak response, and control in wildlife, which can be used by countries to develop their PPR national strategic plans. These guidelines are intended to help countries in the development and implementation of PPR eradication programmes, including objectives, policies and strategies that can be adapted to the full range of national needs, and that facilitate the integration of the wildlife sector into the national strategic plan. Integration will enhance the conservation of wildlife populations, and facilitate management of diseases at the wildlife–livestock interface. Establishing a multisectoral coordination mechanism is essential to ensure good governance and effective collaboration in achieving PPR eradication goals. The purpose of this document is to provide a conceptual framework that can be tailored to a particular national and epidemiological context. In addition, these guidelines, while specific to PPR eradication, can be adapted for any disease at the wildlife–human–livestock interface.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.