One Health event highlights scientific and technical innovations and FAO's key role in their practical application for more resilient agrifood systems
New scientific advances in genomic techniques have the potential to revolutionize the detection of antimicrobial resistance hazards in the environment
On 20 October, FAO hosted the hybrid event “Marrying technical progress and knowledge integration for better One Health outcomes in agrifood systems” at FAO Headquarters as a Main Event in the FAO Science and Innovation Forum 2022. In this moderated session, the audience enjoyed an opening keynote speech followed by a panel session with seven experts. Beyond giving participants insights into astounding innovations and their application in the field through the One Health approach, FAO's key role in ensuring that these innovations reach communities was highlighted.
One Health, with its interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral focus on the health of people, animals, plants and the environment is excellently placed to contribute to agrifood system transformation through multiple change pathways. The event highlighted the opportunities that arise for better “One Health” outcomes from latest developments in whole genome sequencing, genomics, and metagenomics showing how innovations in this area are changing access to genomic-based information and solutions. Panelists emphasized the potential of these technologies to revolutionize our understanding of hazards and provide new avenues for disease surveillance, detection and response as well as climate change mitigation and productivity improvement. Moreover, the panelists shared their experiences on how enabling environments and (national) policies can be generated to capture the benefits of innovation. There were calls from panelists for governments to facilitate and data-sharing and exchange platforms to support effective actions against emerging and remerging hazards, including antimicrobial resistance.
The panel consisted of geographically diverse leading experts in the field of genomics and agrifood systems, offering a wide range of perspectives. See here for the full list of speakers and the subjects covered at the panel.
Several panelists and participants noted, women empowerment is a strong driver for adoption of innovative solutions at many levels. The importance of community support was highlighted in the Q&A session. Scientific and technological innovations cannot be applied without considering the underlying factors affecting the communities that may benefit from these advances. Audience members also commented on the need for critical infrastructure and appropriate resourcing and the difficulties of finding sufficient financial support in resource-scarce environments.
“It behooves us, as FAO, to build the bridges between these impressive innovators making groundbreaking discoveries in their laboratories and the policy makers, as well as the producers that ultimately feel the impact of these amazing discoveries as they are translated and scaled for wide application", said Keith Sumption, FAO Chief of the Joint Zoonotic Diseases and AMR Centre.
Working towards sustainable agrifood systems
Science, innovations and technologies are essential in addressing hazards that challenge the health of people, animals, plants and the environment and undermine the ability of our agrifood systems to provide food securely and sustainably. FAO is deeply committed to building efficient, inclusive, sustainable and resilient agrifood systems by using the One Health approach, which is why it has generated a Programme Priority Area on One Health as part of its strategic framework.
FAO’s Joint Centre for Zoonotic Diseases and Antimicrobial Resistance promotes One Health across different FAO divisions to mainstream One Health in FAO activities. It works closely with the Quadripartite which includes FAO, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH).
The newly published One Health Joint Plan of Action is an essential outcome of this collaborative work. The Plan 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 a One Health response in addressing health threats to humans, animals, plants and the environment.
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