ONE HEALTH - Action Track 1 - PAHO/WHO | Pan American Health Organization

Enhancing One Health capacities to strengthen health systems

ONE HEALTH: A Comprehensive Approach for Addressing Health Threats at the Human-Animal-Environment Interface

Action track 1 “Enhancing One Health capacities to strengthen health systems” is overarching and focuses on strengthening One Health collaborative capacity to support global, regional, and national coordination for the integrated management and regulation of issues at the animal–human–plant–environment interface and to promote the health of humans, animals, plants, and ecosystems.

Several regulatory frameworks, programmes, and initiatives developed and led by the quadripartite organizations (FAO, UNEP, WHO, and WOAH) are relevant. Among them, the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) is the only instrument that legally binds Member States with the commitment to develop and maintain the capacity to detect, assess, notify, and report potential emergencies of international concern. The One Health approach is an essential component of the IHR core capacities. By aligning with the principles and requirements of the IHR, countries can enhance their One Health capacities and contribute to global health security. In addition to the IHR, the Essential Public Health Functions provides a framework for building the institutional capacities to strengthen stewardship and governance for stronger health systems with a Primary Health Care Approach to foster the integration of human, animal, and environmental health.

Robust health information infrastructure, high-quality data, and modern digital capabilities can offer critical advantages in enhancing capacities and addressing One Health challenges. By harnessing the power of digital health, including big data analytics and artificial intelligence, and fostering collaboration among various stakeholders, Member States’ capacity to detect, analyze, predict, forecast, and report surveillance data on diseases, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), and other health threats is strengthened, ultimately safeguarding the health and well-being of humans, animals, and the environment.

Partnerships

World Health Organization (WHO)
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH)
The International Regional Organization for Plant and Animal Health (OIRSA)
CDC’s Central America and Caribbean Regional Office (CACRO)
Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)
The Permanent Veterinary Committee of the Southern Cone (PVC)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
the Caribbean Animal Health Network (CaribVET)
Council of Ministers of Health of Central America (COMISCA)
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
Inter- American Development Bank
World Bank
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID)
United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Global Affairs Canada
Vital Strategies
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
German Development Cooperation (GIZ)

Best practices

Improve transparency and accountability of Member States in the Americas by implementing the IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework:
- in 2023, all 35 States Parties of the Americas Region submitted the SPAR and for the first time for a second consecutive year since January 2016:
  - 11 States Parties conducted Intra- or After-Action Reviews;
  - 17 States Parties conducted Simulation Exercises; and
  - 10 States Parties conducted Voluntary External Evaluations.
Maintain and strengthen the regional and subregional IHR networks and communities of practice through the organization of dedicated workshops:
- Regional IHR Meeting in Santiago de Chile, 6-8 December 2022;
- Sub-Regional Meeting on the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) implementation in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Jamaica 2-4 May 2023;
- IHR Subregional Points of Entry meeting in Trinidad-and-Tobago, on 12-14 March 2024;
Under the request of Member States, PAHO developed technical orientations for the 15 capacities for completing the States Parties Self-Assessment Annual Reporting Tool (SPAR). The purpose of these orientations is to improve the compliance of States Parties to the IHR in the Americas Region, and support the elaboration of tailored national plans of action for the strengthening of IHR core capacities;
Support countries in assessment of IHR core capacities under the IHR MEF and the elaboration of tailored National Action Plans for the strengthening of IHR core capacities:
- Voluntary External Evaluations in Guatemala and Guyana;
- Multisectoral Evaluations in Suriname for the zoonoses and food safety capacities and the Dominican Republic for zoonoses.
IHR Subregional Meeting of the for Central America, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, 21-25 August 2023, dedicated to establishing multisectoral priorities for the strengthening of the zoonosis capacity, with the participation of key stakeholders and strategic partners (IICA, SE-COMISCA, CDC, WOAH, FAO, OIRSA).
Implementation of strategies, technical policies, and standards for interoperable and interconnected systems, as well as enhancing health data management for improving decision-making.
Implementation of methodologies and best practices in data, information, and knowledge management to support health analysis, informed decision-making, modeling, and forecasting.
Improving performance through innovation. A supportive environment for innovation development and scaling up requires an integrated approach to eGovernment initiatives. Opportunities for leveraging the benefits of big data analysis should be considered by using data science tools and techniques.