TY - JOUR
T1 - One Health gains momentum in Africa but room exists for improvement
AU - Fasina, Folorunso O.
AU - Bett, Bernard
AU - Dione, Michel
AU - Mutua, Florence
AU - Roesel, Kristina
AU - Thomas, Lian
AU - Kwoba, Emmah
AU - Ayebazibwe, Chrisistom
AU - Mtika, Nebart
AU - Gebeyehu, Daniel T.
AU - Mtui-Malamsha, Niwael
AU - Sambo, Maganga
AU - Swai, Emmanuel S.
AU - Bebay, Charles
N1 - Funding Information:
This report is part of the work integration between One Health Research, Education, Outreach and Awareness Centre (OHRECA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It involved some desk reviews of literature to prepare the survey, and field survey conducted across eight sub-Saharan African countries. We acknowledged the contributions of various National One Health Platforms, the One Health stakeholders in countries and all persons who attended the validation meetings and provided comprehensive information for the research. We are grateful to governments of the eight countries who permitted the in-country evaluations, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya & Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (The Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development), Germany, which funded the work, as well as the Management of the OHRECA. Ilboudo Guy, Ahmadou Sow Ahmadou assisted in carrying out the surveys in West Africa. Sadly, Oscar Mwaibabile, who was part of the field team in Tanzania passed on before this work was presented for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
PY - 2022/8/23
Y1 - 2022/8/23
N2 - Objectives: The degree of One-Healthiness of a system relates to the effectiveness of an institution to operate within the six main dimensions which identify to what extent it complies with One Health concept. This paper evaluates institutional compliance with One Health concept in 14 institutions from eight African countries. Methods: We utilised the adapted Network for the Evaluation of One Health (NEOH) tool. The institutions included six national One Health platforms and eight other institutions utilizing One Health approaches. Semi-quantitative evaluation of One Health platforms' competencies in six aspects/dimensions concerning One Health operations and infrastructure: Systems Thinking, Planning, Transdisciplinary working, Sharing, Learning and Systemic Organization, was conducted. Results: The evaluation revealed that although all aspects of One Health scored above average, systemic organization and working in One Health were the strongest areas where tremendous gains had been made across the evaluated countries. The aspects of planning, sharing, learning, and thinking should be optimized to achieve gains emanating from One Health approaches in Africa. Cultural and social balance, and integrated health approach were the strongest areas under working and thinking respectively. Thinking was particularly challenged in areas of dimensions coverage and balance, while planning was challenged in the areas of capacity for detection, identification, monitoring of infectious diseases; biosafety and quality management; skills through taught and distance-learning programmes; information and communication technologies to support learning and skills through research apprenticeships. Conclusion: We conclude that although One Health has gained momentum in Africa, there still exists room for improvement. The revealed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and gaps in One Health implementation provide an opportunity for prioritization and refocusing of efforts and resources to strengthen the identified weak areas.
AB - Objectives: The degree of One-Healthiness of a system relates to the effectiveness of an institution to operate within the six main dimensions which identify to what extent it complies with One Health concept. This paper evaluates institutional compliance with One Health concept in 14 institutions from eight African countries. Methods: We utilised the adapted Network for the Evaluation of One Health (NEOH) tool. The institutions included six national One Health platforms and eight other institutions utilizing One Health approaches. Semi-quantitative evaluation of One Health platforms' competencies in six aspects/dimensions concerning One Health operations and infrastructure: Systems Thinking, Planning, Transdisciplinary working, Sharing, Learning and Systemic Organization, was conducted. Results: The evaluation revealed that although all aspects of One Health scored above average, systemic organization and working in One Health were the strongest areas where tremendous gains had been made across the evaluated countries. The aspects of planning, sharing, learning, and thinking should be optimized to achieve gains emanating from One Health approaches in Africa. Cultural and social balance, and integrated health approach were the strongest areas under working and thinking respectively. Thinking was particularly challenged in areas of dimensions coverage and balance, while planning was challenged in the areas of capacity for detection, identification, monitoring of infectious diseases; biosafety and quality management; skills through taught and distance-learning programmes; information and communication technologies to support learning and skills through research apprenticeships. Conclusion: We conclude that although One Health has gained momentum in Africa, there still exists room for improvement. The revealed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and gaps in One Health implementation provide an opportunity for prioritization and refocusing of efforts and resources to strengthen the identified weak areas.
KW - Functionality
KW - Integrated approaches to health
KW - National One Health Platform
KW - One Health evaluation
KW - One Health index
KW - One Health ratio
KW - Transdisciplinary
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85136565629&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.onehlt.2022.100428
DO - 10.1016/j.onehlt.2022.100428
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85136565629
SN - 2352-7714
VL - 15
SP - 1
EP - 9
JO - One Health
JF - One Health
M1 - 100428
ER -