One Health Day Webinar Series

Evidence-based One Health Governance:

Voice of the One Health High-Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP) 

📆 Wednesday, 06 November 2024      🕰️ 12:00-13:00 CET, Geneva Time 

Context  

The world faces unprecedented health challenges including emerging diseases, food insecurity, antimicrobial resistance, ecosystem degradation and climate change, largely fuelled by human activities that disrupt the delicate balance between people, animals and the environment. Large-scale deforestation, intensified agriculture, wildlife trade, and biodiversity loss represent a significant threat to public health, contributing to increased health risks at the human-animal-environment interface, disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable and marginalized communities. 

Recognising the interlinkages and interdependence between the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the wider environment, the One Health approach has emerged as a viable solution to address these increasing complex global health threats.  

Objectives 

In order to institutionalize OH governance at national and community level, OH-specific frameworks, governing bodies, and policy harmonisation may be required depending on the context. The One Health High-Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP), as the scientific advisory panel to the Quadripartite organizations, will continue focusing on providing the evidence-based advice on One Health governance, for strengthened coordination mechanisms, ensuring collaborative data-sharing surveillance systems and adequate funding toward successful implementation.  

Through this webinar co-hosted by the Quadripartite organizations, we hope to showcase the perspective of the One Health High-Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP) how OH governance has been applied in different contexts (at regional, national and community level) and identify opportunities for improvement, including multi-level regulations, leadership, multi-stakeholder coordination mechanisms (MCMs), and financial and OH-trained human resources. 

Welcome Opening 
Quadripartite organizations 

Moderator 

Professor Carlos Das Neves​ - Chief Scientist, the European Food Safety Authority 

Panelists

Dr Yewande Alimi​ - One Health Unit Lead, Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention

Dr Casey Barton Behravesh​ - Director, the One Health Office at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Professor Nitish Debnath​ - National Coordinator, One Health Bangladesh

Topics 

• The governance structures in different contexts and the key enablers for effective OH governance mechanisms and frameworks. 
• The key challenges and barriers that prevent effective One Health governance. 
• Metrics that should be used to evaluate the effectiveness of One Health governance frameworks .
• Methods to ensure and maintain accountability among stakeholders.

About the WHO One Health Initiative Team  

The World Health Organization One Health Initiative (OHI) Team was established in July 2021. 
Through a strengthened Quadripartite collaboration and the scientific advice from the One Health High Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP), the OHI team plays a key role in strategically promoting for an integrated One Health approach to maintain it on the political agenda in order to achieve true transformation in the way we approach health, as well as strengthening cross-sectoral collaboration and coordination at the global, regional, national, and community levels to turn the One Health approach into impactful reality. 

Contact us: OneHealthInitiative@who.int