Posted by The Ministers of Health, Agriculture, Environment, and Water Resources have been urged by the Nigeria Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) to support budget lines and resource mobilization for the implementation of the One Health concept within their respective ministries.
At the National One Health Technical Steering Committee’s inaugural meeting and celebration of 2023 One Health Day in Abuja on Friday, Ifedayo Adetifa, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), made the call.
According to him, “One Health is a collaborative, multi-sectoral, trans-disciplinary approach that recognizes the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment to achieve optimal health outcomes at local, regional, national, and global levels.”
He emphasized that the global health landscape is complicated and interconnected, with threats from antimicrobial resistance to zoonotic diseases and the larger issue of climate change. He stressed that the significance of One Health cannot be understated.
He went on to say that these problems transcend national boundaries and affect not only the health of people but also the welfare of animals and the environment. He also said that in order to properly address these problems, Nigerians need to take a team-based, all-encompassing approach.
The Director General then urged them to promote risk assessments and solutions to One Health problems, as well as the best possible optimization and interoperability of preparedness and response systems, including cooperative surveillance across humans, animals, and habitats.