AFRICAN LEADERS PLEDGE TO IMPROVE EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE

(Credit: WHO) Participants at the One Health Conference

14 November 2016 – On Friday, at the landmark West African Regional Conference on One Health in Dakar, Senegal, ministers of health, agriculture and wildlife renewed their commitment to working together to prevent and respond early to public health threats across West Africa. The collaboration comes as the region approaches the three year mark since the first Ebola case in the recent outbreak.  

One Health is an approach that calls on policymakers and health practitioners to consider the inextricable link between human, animal and environmental health when designing public health systems, research and programmes. In recent years, 75% of emerging infectious diseases have originated in animals or animal products. It is believed that Ebola spread to a young boy in rural Guinea from an infected animal, sparking an epidemic that infected more than 28,000 people, including in the capital cities of six West African countries. By taking an integrated approach to public health, communities and countries can identify outbreaks in animals before they spread to humans.