Discussions around the “One Health” approach gained prominence on the second day of the G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting. The meeting takes place in Rio de Janeiro until this Thursday (31), when a final declaration must be presented.
The ministerial meeting is part of the program for the Brazilian presidency of the G20, which brings together the 19 largest economies in the world, as well as the European Union and more recently the African Union. The group has established itself as a global forum for dialogue and coordination on economic, social, development and international cooperation issues. In December last year, Brazil succeeded India as president. It is the first time that the country has assumed this position in the current G20 format, established in 2008. At the end of the year, the presidency will be transferred to South Africa.
One of the Brazilian Ministry of Health’s guidelines for conducting sectoral discussions at the G20 is to reinforce the “One Health” approach. It seeks to encourage collaboration across different sectors to develop integrated solutions to global challenges such as pandemics, antimicrobial resistance, climate change and biodiversity loss.
The approach recognizes the interconnectedness between human, animal, plant and environmental health. Its implementation ranges from measures to prevent zoonotic diseases to the promotion of food security and environmental protection.
“The One Health approach offers opportunities for the development and implementation of programs, public policies, legislation and research, in which diverse sectors and disciplines collaborate to achieve better results in human health, animal health, plant health and environmental health strategies”, stated the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, in her opening statement on the second day of the ministerial meeting.
“I reinforce here the importance of environmental health from a broad perspective. Implementing this approach promotes cooperation at all levels from local to global to face emerging and re-emerging challenges such as pandemics, antimicrobial resistance, climate change and its impacts on health and other challenges to the quality of life of our populations”, he added.
Building on this approach, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organization for Animal Health (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) have formed a quadripartite alliance and developed the Joint One Health Action Plan (2022–2026). The objective is to work in a coordinated way.
“This approach aims to improve access to vaccines, medicines and diagnostics with a focus on diseases that affect populations in vulnerable situations. At the same time, it seeks to strengthen national and regional capacities”, explained Nísia.
She also highlighted the importance of creating an environment that favors innovation, research and resilience.
