The Quadripartite Regional Meeting to Accelerate the Implementation of “One Health” in the Eastern Mediterranean Region kicked off today (Monday) at Intercontinental Hotel under H.E. Dr. Said bin Harib Al-Lamki, Undersecretary of Ministry of Health for Health Affairs.

The Regional Meeting is hosted by the Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Ministry of Health in cooperation with the Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the Eastern Mediterranean and the WHO European Region.

In this regard, Al-Lamki pointed out that the One Health approach aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of humans, animals, plants, and ecosystems and recognizes the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the wider environment are closely linked and interdependent. Key areas addressed by One Health include control of emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases; control of endemic zoonotic, neglected tropical and vector-borne diseases; strengthening food safety; curbing antimicrobial resistance; and integrating environment progressively into the One Health agenda.

He added that the “One Health” approach could only be achieved by close cooperation between various sectors such as the human health sector, animal health sector, vectors, food safety sector, environment sector, and municipality sector by developing joint plans to avoid the transmission of infectious diseases and control them, unifying the health education and activities focusing on the role of social media, preparing studies and research on common infectious diseases and health events, and organizing conferences and workshops on “One Health.”      

The meeting aims to update countries on global and regional progress in the area of One Health, share experience and best practices for implementing One Health in countries of the Region, including the use of existing tools, introduce the Regional One Health Operational Framework; its alignment with the Global Quadripartite One Health Join Plan of action and explore ways to adapt it at country level, Introduce considerations for the inclusion and uptake of behavioral insights, data, and tools in the national One Health plans, and introduce the Regional One Health Quadripartite taskforce to streamline One Health efforts among the Quadripartite Organizations at the Regional and Country Levels.

Senior management and decision makers from key representatives from the Human, Animal, and Agriculture and Environmental sectors from the 22 countries of the Region are participating in the meeting to exchange experience and fulfill targeted objectives.