What are the alternatives for a Global One Health Governance Body?
Since there is no blueprint for making ‘One Health‘ operational, I agree with the Atlanta Report that the alternative of having a One Health governance body is to have a ‘One Health Global Guidance Group’-G3 that will provide neutrality, credibility and build on the existing international, regional and sub-national platforms, so as to find practicable approaches that factor in the needs of all “actors” in developed and developing worlds.
The proposed One Health Global Guidance Group will champion the concepts and goals of One Health and act as a facilitator and enabler and not a “government”. In my opinion the success of the guidance group will be through emphasizing the need for a bottom-up collaboration and catalyzing leadership at all levels since the ultimate responsibility lies within individual countries to develop a framework evolving from local issues by including community participation and building local capacity and avoid “a one size-fits it all approach.”
The proposed “soft governance” approach through a Global Guidance Group is a sound alternative built on existing individual country frameworks. I will also propose to have country “One Health ambassadors” who will work with the Global Guidance Group at the country level. These ambassadors should be volunteers from the Ministry of Health/Agriculture/Environment. As much as it is a sound alternative, let‘s now find out some of the factors that may encourage or discourage a truly global commitment to One Health in the next post.
References
- Galaz V., Leach M., Scoones I. and Stein C. (2015) The political economy of One Health research and policy, STEPS Working Paper 81 Brighton: STEPS Centre
- Lam S. (2010) One World, One Health – an utopian dream or a reality? www.onehealthinitiative.com/publications/ONE%20WORLD.pdf.
- Normandeau. (2011) Atlanta Report 2011: Expert Meeting on One Health Governance and Global Network, October 31-November 1st 2011, Atlanta, USA
- Okello A., Vandersmissen A., and Welburn C. (2015) One Health Into Action: Integrating Global Health Governance with National Priorities in a Globalized World in the book One Health: the theory and practice of integrated health approaches 2015 pp. 283-303. ISBN-13: 978 1 78064 341 0. 10.1079/9781780643410.0283
- Okello A., Gibbs P., Vandersmissen A., Welburn C. (2011) One Health and the neglected zoonoses: turning rhetoric into reality. Veterinary Record (2011) 169, 281-285 doi: 10.1136/vr.d5378
- Vandersmissen A. and Welburn C. (2014) Current initiatives in “One Health‘ Consolidating the One HealthGlobal Network. In: OIE Scientific and Technical Review 33(2), August.
- Zinsstag J. (2012) Convergence of Ecohealth and One Health. Ecohealth. 2012 Dec; 9(4): 371–373. doi: 10.1007/s10393-013-0812-z
