Advancing the animal health agenda under One Health

Chadia Wannous, One Health Global Coordinator, WOAH

1.What motivated WOAH to join N4H and what role will your organisation play to ensure its success, specifically when it comes to the animal health agenda?

When WOAH was approached by UN Environment during the conceptual phase of N4H, we were very interested and motivated to participate as one of the founding Consortium Partners. The primary reason for this is because we see merit and the added value of N4H, particularly in terms of its focus of bringing together the environment, animal, and human health agendas under the umbrella of the One Health approach, which also fits perfectly with WOAH’s mandate and vision for the future. 

 WOAH’s mandate is to work on improving animal health and welfare, worldwide, thereby ensuring a better future for all. We are also a standard-setting organisation and we develop guidance, norms, standards, codes and manuals that not only help to ensure animal health and welfare, but also to build a safer, healthier and more sustainable world. WOAH will therefore make sure that the animal health sector is equally and fully represented in this initiative by bringing the animal health perspective to the discussion and also to its project implementation. 

 By reducing the interface and the interactions between wildlife, domestic animals and humans, we are contributing towards reducing the risk of pandemics. As N4H focuses on prevention, it brings the animal, human and environmental health agendas to light and, in turn, our contribution as WOAH to ensure its success.

2. From your perspective, as WOAH’s One Health Global Coordinator, what is so unique about the Nature for Health initiative?

Prevention should focus on primary prevention, meaning prevention at source. As WOAH’s One Health Coordinator, I am very pleased that this vision and implementation of One Health has been translated into the N4H initiative. The other unique component that I would like to highlight is the systems approach that N4H is taking when it comes to working on pandemic prevention. By applying this approach, we are able to identify the interrelated and interdependent components that contribute towards pandemic risk and map out and develop the best ways to manage this risk. This is how change will last and  N4H is already demonstrating how this can be done.

 The value of the N4H Consortium itself is also extremely important. It not only brings strength and different perspectives of partners to N4H’s work, but it also provides a unique opportunity to work closely together on such an important and interconnected global issue and deliver the impact that is needed.

3. What does success look like to you and your organisation when it comes to N4H?

The first success would be the successful implementation of the first country projects across the six countries that have been selected to join the N4H in its initial implementation phase. Success at the country level, which is the most important, would not only deliver impact on the ground by reducing the number of outbreaks and spillover events and reducing their frequency, but it would also strengthen each country’s capabilities to prevent future pandemics by way of incorporating One Health structures within their governance processes, national strategies and plans, and financing mechanisms.

 The second success would be demonstrated by having more partners on board who want to support the vision and mission of N4H and who see the value and need in linking together the environment, public health and animal health agendas in order to prevent the next pandemic.

 The third success would be having more donors on board, so we can ensure that N4H, along with its country partners, can have as much impact as possible in the realm of pandemic prevention by supporting more countries to implement the N4H initiative.