Asia Pacific Quadripartite One Health Workshop

5 – 8 September 2023
Bangkok, Thailand

The Asia Pacific Quadripartite (FAO, UNEP, WHO, and WOAH) organized 1st Asia Pacific Quadripartite One Health Workshop from 5-8 September 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand. The main objectives of the workshop were to advocate and familiarize Quadripartite One Health (OH) Joint Plan of Action (JPA) and its Implementation Guide, support Member States to better understand and adapt the OH JPA to their national context, and raise awareness of One Health issues across the human-animal-plant and wider environment interface to the official representatives of the Member States and other international partners organizations.

The workshop brought together a total of 188 participants (144 in-person and 44 virtually) from 23 Member States (human health, animal health, and wildlife and environment health officials), Quadripartite organizations (headquarters, regional and country offices), and 18 international partner organizations such as GIZ (German Agency for International Cooperation GmbH), UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency), USAID (United States Agency for International Development), UNICEF, US CDC (United States Center for Disease Control), etc. participated in this four-day workshop.

 The workshop was held in a hybrid mode and took an interactive and adult learning approach, where presentations were interspersed with interactive group work sessions. A partners’ meeting was organized between quadripartite and international partner organizations to improve coordination and collaboration in implementing One Health activities in the Asia Pacific region.

The main outcomes of the workshop were:

  • The participants were well-oriented to the Quadripartite OH JPA and its theory of change through Three Pathways of Change and Six Action Tracks.
  • The Member States identified the gaps using three pathways of change and six action tracks and generated a country roadmap for the implementation of OH JPA to address these gaps.
  • The Member states also identified regional gaps (for South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific) and generated a list of recommendations to address these gaps.

 

 

The workshop came up with three sets of recommendations for Member states, Quadripartite (QPT), and partners for follow-up action.

Member States (MS)

  1. The country participants at this workshop are the national OH JPA “champions” who could lead a broader set of national stakeholders and sectors, supported by Quadripartite partners to develop a robust national OH JPA or to align existing OH national action plans with Quadripartite OH JPA.
  2. The next steps to improve OH governance, policy, and implementation at the national level need to take into consideration, both bottom-up approaches – those solutions that come from sub-national, Indigenous Peoples, and Local Communities, as well as top-down approaches that support coordination among sectors and provides both human and financial resources as well as political commitment.
  3. Member States are encouraged to enhance the meaningful engagement of the environmental sector in One Health initiatives including implementation of OH JPA, by mainstreaming the environmental dimension of One Health into all Action Tracks of national OH JPA. 
  4. Member States are encouraged to identify their priorities and needs, map out existing resources for One Health, and make the best use of available resources for the implementation of OH JPA. 

Quadripartite (QPT)

QPT will continue to:

  1. Engage all One Health players - academia, research institutions, regional economic communities, public and private sector, NGOs, IPLCs, and other relevant stakeholders - to contribute to advancing shared interests in One Health through cohesive actions.
  2. Support member states in national OH JPA development and alignment with existing OH strategies. As a first step, one country from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific region will be chosen to pilot the development of national OH JPA implementation in consultation with sub-regional organizations and partners.
  3. Organize a series of Asia Pacific webinars to promote OH JPA implementation and priority issues under each Action Track on a regular basis.
  4. Promote the use of One Health operational tools to strengthen better coordination and collaboration among national One Health stakeholders.
  5. Organize similar advocacy workshops on OH JPA and regional implementation for the Pacific Island Countries in 2024.
  6. Organize the Asia Pacific Quadripartite One Health Workshop in 2025 to review progress in implementation of OH JPA at the country level and date and venue will be decided in due course of time.

Partners

  1. Dialogue with partners like this event is important to update and inform the development and to complement the works of others
  2. Regional coordination mechanisms for collaboration across partners and among donors should be identified as it can support countries to address their priorities
  3. Partners are encouraged to better coordinate with the Asia-Pacific Quadripartite secretariat for supporting country OH projects.

The participants stated that the workshop was organized at an opportune time after the COVID-19 pandemic, recognized the importance of the One Health approach to strengthen health security human health, animal health, plant health, and ecosystem health, and implementation of OH JPA at the country level should be prioritized.

The workshop provided a great opportunity for networking for country participants, One Health partners and practitioners, and the quadripartite One Health team. After all, One Health is a team sport.

The next Asia Pacific Quadripartite One Health Workshop will be organized in 2025 to review progress in the implementation of OH JPA at the country level and the date and venue will be decided in due course of time.