Conducted One Health profile of the United Republic of Tanzania with FAO’s updated One Health Monitoring Tool
This innovative FAO tool defines a concise and policy-relevant overview of One Health institutionalization and operationalization in the United Republic of Tanzania.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has partnered with the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to promote implementation of the One Health approach globally, to ensure that specialists from multiple sectors and disciplines work together to address health threats to animals (terrestrial and aquatic), humans, plants and the environment.
As there was no existing tool to monitor progress in the implementation of the One Health approach in a given country, FAO, with the support of the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), developed the innovative One Health Monitoring Tool (OHMT). This tool contributes to better engagement between sectors involved in management of health events occurring at ecosystem-animal and human interface, to identify gaps and to monitor One Health progress in a country. In addition, the information processed by the OHMT generates a comprehensive and reliable One Health country profile that can be used to inform One Health programming and support resource mobilisation, advocacy and communication on One Health.
The OHMT, developed in consultation with WHO, WOAH, the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), was piloted in four countries (Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia and Tanzania) under the leadership of the respective national One Health platforms in late 2021 and in 2022. This piloting allowed to refine and improve the tool according to the needs of each country.
Tanzania’s One Health profile is an important step to improve resilience of environment, animal and human health systems
The new revised and updated OHMT tool was presented in the presence of FAO Tanzania together with the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the representation of the National One Health Platforms (Mainland and Zanzibar), at a three-day workshop, launched on 12 April 2023. The OHMT priority actions and timeline for its implementation was defined. Furthermore, the workshop also provided the setting for an assessment of all sectors involved to conduct a One Health Country Profile of the United Republic of Tanzania.
At the welcoming remarks, FAO Representative to the United Republic of Tanzania, Nyabenyi Tito Tipo, stated that One Health approach was not a new concept but it has become more important in recent years because of the many factors that have changed interactions between people, animals, plants, and our environment. These include but not limited to population growth, climate change, globalization and urbanization, all resulting to creation of ecological niches with opportunities for pathogens transmission.
The elaboration of the One Health Tanzania country profile is an important step in streamlining multisectoral preparedness for prevention and detection of, and response to outbreaks of zoonotic diseases in animals and people, plant diseases, improve food safety and security and reduce antimicrobial-resistant infections, as it provides information on the level on One Health institutionalization and operationalization in each sector and within sectors.