Making One Health plans work: Why costing matters for national action

Countries are increasingly recognizing the importance of coordinated action to protect the health of people, animals, plants and ecosystems. Yet translating One Health commitments into practical, sustainable action remains a challenge. National strategies can establish priorities, but without a clear understanding of the resources needed to implement them, even well-developed plans risk remaining on paper.

Costing prioritized activities and investment planning help make national One Health action plans more realistic, achievable and financially sustainable. By clarifying resource requirements, identifying existing funding and financing gaps, and describing opportunities, they inform prioritization, resource allocation and financing decisions.

Experiences from Ghana, Malawi and Nigeria illustrate how countries, with support from FAO and the Quadripartite collaboration, are putting this approach into practice.

National plans for coordinated One Health action

One Health National Action Plans provide a framework for addressing interconnected health challenges through coordinated action across sectors. They translate national policies, strategies and priorities into activities, responsibilities and implementation arrangements.

These plans can be aligned with the One Health Joint Plan of Action (OH JPA), developed by the Quadripartite – FAO, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).

The OH JPA provides a common framework across six action tracks, covering One Health capacities, zoonotic diseases, vector-borne diseases, food safety, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and environmental health. Its accompanying Implementation Guide supports countries in adapting these priorities to national circumstances and developing practical plans for implementation.

Why costing is essential

Costing helps governments determine how much implementation will cost, what can be financed through existing budgets and where additional resources are needed.

It also strengthens collaboration. Because One Health activities often involve several ministries and institutions, joint costing can identify opportunities to share resources, avoid duplication and align investments across sectors.

A costed plan provides a stronger basis for engaging ministries of finance, development partners and financing institutions. It also supports accountability by establishing a financial framework against which implementation can be monitored.

Effective costing begins with agreed priorities, clearly defined responsibilities and realistic assumptions about resource needs. It must also take account of existing national programmes and financing commitments.

Malawi: Identifying national investment needs

In Malawi, FAO and the Quadripartite partners supported a national One Health planning process, a situation analysis in October 2025, followed by multisectoral workshops to strengthen coordination and develop a national action plan aligned with the OH JPA.

In September 2026, FAO, WHO and WOAH supported a national costing workshop in Lilongwe, using an adaptation of the WHO costing and budgeting tool originally developed for national AMR action plans.

Fifteen national participants were trained to use the tool, strengthening national capacity to update and refine the plan.
The next steps include validating the costed plan, identifying opportunities to reduce duplication and developing a resource mobilization strategy, including investment cases to support financing discussions.

Ghana: Connecting priorities with implementation

In Ghana, FAO is supporting the government to strengthen national One Health planning and implementation. From 10 to 13 August 2026, a national stakeholder workshop was held in Koforidua to review and cost the country's five-year One Health National Action Plan (2026–2030), using the WHO costing and budgeting tool.

The workshop brought together stakeholders from across sectors to examine priority activities, develop cost estimates and work on a two-year operational plan (2026–2027) and a monitoring and evaluation framework.

An important part of the process was aligning the One Health plan with Ghana's existing National Action Plan for Health Security, helping to avoid duplication, build on existing programmes and connect national priorities with available resources.

The exercise illustrates how collaborative costing can strengthen national ownership and help translate longer-term One Health strategies into practical, budgeted activities, providing a stronger foundation for implementation and resource mobilization.

Nigeria: Aligning One Health priorities with national budgets

Nigeria is strengthening its national One Health planning through the development of its second One Health Strategic Plan. Following a national workshop in March 2026, supported by FAO in collaboration with the Quadripartite partners, a second workshop was planned to review and prioritize activities and develop a costed operational plan. The process aims to align One Health priorities with existing national strategies on antimicrobial resistance, health security, livestock development and climate action, while identifying opportunities to avoid duplication. Importantly, it also seeks to integrate costed activities into government sectoral budgets and the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, helping to identify financing gaps and strengthen domestic and external resource mobilization.

Strengthening the case for investment

Economic and cost–benefit analysis can take this work further by examining the expected benefits of investments in disease prevention, preparedness, surveillance, veterinary services and other One Health interventions.

By comparing costs with potential benefits, countries can better demonstrate the return on investment and make a stronger case for sustained financing.

FAO supports this work through its economic analysis tools and the Quadripartite return on investment Community of Practice within the One Health Knowledge Nexus.