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Panelists during a side event on the One Health approach and enhancing global food security. Credit: Naureen Hossain/IPS
– Increasingly, experts in the global health and agricultural sectors are finding the One Health approach effective for identifying and addressing health concerns that can influence facets of health. Implementing this approach worldwide will require partnerships across different sectors.
On the sidelines of CGIAR Science Week, the “One Health Horizons: Catalyzing Collaborations, Innovations, and Policies for Improving Global Health and Food Security” side event brought together researchers and scientists to discuss how the One Health approach can benefit research in the agricultural sector.
According to the World Health Organization, One Health is an “integrated, unifying approach” that aims to optimize the health of people, animals, and ecosystems because they are interdependent. Researchers in the health sectors were finding that investing in capacity building and collaboration through the One Health approach could strengthen treatment responses for these three groups. The idea emerged in the wake of disruptions to the global supply chains brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The One Health approach also emphasized sustainable recovery, as countries faced several development challenges that would shape their relationship to the environment, such as demographic shifts, climate change, and natural resource degradation. In adopting the One Health approach to the wider agricultural sector, the impacts of one area of health on another can be assessed with a focus on environmental integration.
“When we want to transform the food land systems, we have to consider the global challenges,” said Hung Nguyen-Viet, Program Leader, Health, at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).
As part of CGIAR’s Agenda for 2030, the One Health initiative was first built on protecting human health from zoonoses—diseases from wild animals or livestock—food-borne diseases, and antimicrobial resistance. The focus on animal diseases served as an entry point for the One Health approach, according to Jordon Chamberlin, principal scientist for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Nairobi. Through their research projects, they could advance their understanding of the risks for infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance in livestock.
Following the projects’ conclusions, CGIAR’s team found that there were opportunities for cross-sectoral collaborations to incorporate the One Health approach. The team also recommended there needed to be greater engagement with policymakers to translate research findings into tangible strategies and the development of adaptable, context-specific interventions.
The open, analytical nature of the One Health model can go beyond health and agriculture. The impact of the global and local economies should also be taken into consideration, Chamberlin argued, such as in how global trends or supply shocks play out in local markets and how this influences farm management. This raises the possibility for new One Health research opportunities, such as the economics of organic production in smallholder systems and the new market opportunities or the impact of soil health across the food value systems.
The need for cross-sectoral partnerships and data was addressed during a panel discussion.
“We need partnerships; we need an enabling environment through enabling policies and legislative framework,” said Lillian Wambua, Regional Programme Officer, One Health for Africa, World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). “We need data and evidence that is going to help us… navigate the environments and barriers.”
Esther Mugi, a scientist for the African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI), recommended that professionals from different sectors could convene in joint training programs or public dialogues to address the One Health principles. This would also ensure that there were domestic, homegrown approaches to addressing the challenges in the One Health approach, she said.
These partnerships across different sectors – the public and private sectors, academia, research groups like CGIAR, and government partners — should also be rooted in the involvement of the agricultural communities. As Wambua pointed out, “Most of these issues start and end with the community.”
IPS UN Bureau Report,
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