Enhancing One Health capacities to strengthen health systems By Wayne Ramkrishna of the Communicable Disease Control Directorate, Department of Health, South Africa, and Jacqueline Weyer of the Centre for Emerging Zoonotic and Parasitic Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, South Africa. In today’s interconnected world, health threats rarely respect boundaries. A virus emerging in wildlife can spread to livestock and then to people. Climate change can shift mosquito habitats, increasing the risk of vector-borne diseases such as malaria or dengue. Antimicrobial resistance can develop in hospitals, farms or the environment – and affect us all. Strengthening our health systems means recognising these connections and responding to them together. This is the foundation of South Africa’s One Health Implementation Framework, which promotes coordinated action to protect the health of people, animals, plants and ecosystems Enhancing One Health capacities is about building the systems, skills and structures that allow different sectors – such as health, agriculture, environment, research and communities – to work as one. Rather than operating in silos, One Health brings together all stakeholders, including healthcare workers and veterinarians, environmental scientists and ecologists, public health experts and laboratory specialists, and policymakers and community leaders. The goal is simple but powerful: prevent health threats earlier, detect them faster and respond more effectively. Health systems are only as strong as the people within them. Enhancing One Health capacities includes developing core competencies such as cross-sector collaboration; risk communication; leadership in complex emergencies, translating science into policy; and ethical and culturally sensitive engagement. A workforce trained to think beyond single disciplines is better equipped to manage complex challenges like antimicrobial resistance or climatesensitive diseases What does enhancing One Health capacities involve? Strong governance, clear coordination A key pillar of the framework is governance. South Africa has established national and provincial coordination mechanisms to ensure that outbreaks involving animals, humans or environmental drivers are managed collectively. The national One Health Steering Committee and the One Health Forum bring together government departments, research institutions and other partners. During emergencies, structures such as multisectoral outbreak response teams allow for rapid, coordinated action. This means that when rabies, Rift Valley fever or another zoonotic disease emerges, veterinary and public health authorities do not work separately – they respond together. Investing in people and skills ACTION TRACK 1 05
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