The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for strengthened collaboration and a sharper focus on One Health (OH) implementation in Ghana.

Dr Sofonias Asrat, WHO Health Systems Specialist, representing Dr Francis Kasolo, the WHO Country Representative, said this was crucial as experts had invested time and resources in drafting a policy to provide the framework for institutionalising this coordinated approach of working in the interest of human, environment, and animal health.

He made the call at a high-level policy dialogue to reflect on the work the OH Technical Working Group had done over the past five years and to chart a common path for One Health implementation in Ghana.

The aim of the meeting was to engage policymakers across the key sector ministries and other stakeholders for their inputs into the structure, framework and policy options proposed by the draft One Health policy.

One Health refers to an approach of multisectoral engagement with the ultimate aim of achieving better health outcomes.

The areas of work in which a One Health approach is particularly relevant include food safety, the control of zoonoses and combatting antimicrobial resistance.

It has been posited that more than six out of every 10 known infectious diseases in people are spread from animals, and three out of every four new or emerging infectious diseases in people are spread from animals.

This implies that many of the same microbes infect animals and humans because of their shared ecosystem.

Dr Asrat said zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance pose great threats to our collective health security.

He said it was also evident that efforts by just one sector cannot prevent or eliminate most of the health problems the country is confronted with.

‘It is, therefore, most important that programmes, policies, legislation, and research bordering on human health, animal health and environmental health are appropriately coordinated and implemented in an integrated manner.

‘Now more than ever is the time to throw in support for the institutionalisation of the One Health approach in Ghana.

‘I invite all stakeholders present here today to openly contribute to the discussions and offer their support to provide an additional engine to power health security in Ghana through the One Health policy,’ he stated.

He said following lessons learnt in the country’s response to outbreaks such as COVID-19, highly pathogenic avian influenza, Marburg Virus, Lassa fever, Anthrax and other zoonotic pathogens and the burden of antimicrobial resistance, it was important to institutionalise One Health implementation in Ghana.

Institutionalising One Health through a national framework such as a One Health policy would help to overcome several of the challenges associated with the implementation of the One Health approach in Ghana, he said.

Dr Asrat said the WHO remain committed to supporting the government and people of Ghana to improve health security through the deployment of various tools and mechanisms including the One Health approach.

Dr Franklyn Asiedu-Bekoe, the Director of Public Health Ghana Health Service and Chair of the Technical Working Group, during his presentation, said implementation of One Health had already begun in the country with favourable responses.

He said progress had been made with advocacy and awareness, draft policy, and a strategic framework developed and partners engaged.

Dr Asiedu-Bekoe said some of the prioritized over 20 zoonotic diseases include anthrax, rabies, zoonotic avian influenza, zoonotic tuberculosis, and trypanosomiasis.

He said despite the progress made, OH implementation was fragmented and called for a collective decision to protect health for tomorrow.

Dr Badu Sarkodie, a Member of the Technical Working Committee, said the guiding principles of the policy were to ensure accountability, communication, coordination, collaboration, partnerships, professionalism, stewardship, sustainability, transparency, and gender.

He called for funding and other resources, and cross-sector information sharing for the successful implementation of the policy.

National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture; and the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology, and directors of various institutions participated in the dialogue.

Source: Ghana News Agency