On 11-13 June, the WOAH Regional Representations for Europe, together with other Quadripartite members of the Regional One Health Coordination Mechanism, organized the “One Health Seminar for the European Region” in Vienna, Austria. The seminar was funded by the EU and co-financed by Austria. It was the first time that all 53 Member States were invited to share their One Health (OH) activities, needs and best practices in key areas – public health, animal health, environmental protection and food safety. Around 200 people attended the seminar in person and online
"I am pleased to see that the European Region has developed a highly effective regional One Health coordination mechanism, that my team has excellent cooperation with the European offices of WHO, UNEP and FAO, and that we have an ambitious agenda. With this seminar bringing together representatives from regional Member countries, the animal, public and environmental health sectors and many other stakeholders, I am confident that Europe will set a good example for other regions".
In their welcoming remarks, Dr Ulrich Herzog, CVO/WOAH Delegate from Austria and Vice-President of the WOAH Regional Commission for Europe, and Dr Budimir Plavsic, WOAH Regional Representative for Europe, stressed the importance of identifying opportunities for collaboration and discussing best practices and achievements in the field of One Health. They suggested that this event, with representatives from all health sectors of European Member States, quadripartite agencies and partners from various institutions, educational institutions, collaborative centres, academia and non-governmental sectors, can achieve a high level of consultation and produce significant results and recommendations for further implementation of the Joint Action Plan, prevention and control of zoonotic threats and strengthening capacities for pandemic preparedness.
The Regional Directors/Representatives of the Quadripartite in Europe, Dr Hans Kluge (Regional Director of WHO – Europe), Mr. Viorel Gutu (Representative and Deputy Director General of FAO – Europe and Central Asia) and Ms. Sylvie Motard (Deputy Director of UNEP-Europe) emphasized that the One Health approach is essential to address challenges such as zoonoses and antimicrobial resistance. They noted that only by consolidating our regional efforts can we achieve better preparedness and more effective response to regional and global challenges.
Dr Chadia Wannous, WOAH Global OH Coordinator and dr Peter Hoejskov, Technical Officer for Food Safety&Zoonotic Diseases, Dr Cheng Liang, Technical Officer for One Health Initiative in WHO, introduced how OH approach is set up in the political agenda on the global and regional levels.
Best national practices and projects were presented by CVOs and their counterparts in public health and environment of France, Georgia, Sweden, Azerbaijan, Belgium, and the hosting country Austria.
Dr Galib Abdulaliyev presented national best practices and the establishment of the One Health Task Force in Azerbaijan, and outlined specific activities underway, including rabies eradication and the use of oral rabies vaccination. Based on experience, he advised a clear description of roles and responsibilities, the adoption of a contingency plan with adequate resources for implementation, especially for early detection and rapid response. At the regional level, he advocated the establishment of a Regional Advisory Group on One Health to strengthen communication, collaboration and exchange of best practices.
Drs Lena Bjornerot and Alma Brolund elaborated on strong coordination between One Health authorities, sharing Sweden’s rich experience of how local/regional and national authorities coordinate activities within the country on One Health projects of common interest. Lena noted the importance of improving data sharing processes between sectors responsible for action on health threats and referred to WOAH’s efforts to collect data on antimicrobial use (ANIMUSE).
Dr Emmanuelle Soubeyran described the multisectoral coordination mechanisms in France, including the inter-ministerial One Health Task Force set up in France in 2023 for the Ministries of Agriculture, Environment, Health and Research to develop a prioritized roadmap to ensure the operational implementation of the One Health approach. She elaborated on key skills relevant to One Health, vigilance in all health sectors, and cross-sectoral training of students to learn collaboration between different disciplines early in their careers.
Dr Vasili Basiladze provided a deep insight into the country’s priorities in animal health with potential public health threat and measures that veterinary and public health sectors undertake in coordination. Also, Dr Basiladze and Dr Annette Nigsch (Austria) paid attention to one of the most complicated zoonoses – vector borne diseases (VBD) that require surveillance and control efforts from public, animal, environment sectors including from research communities in countries. He also reported outcomes of the Roundtable on VBD organized in Tbilisi last November by WOAH-Europe and Georgia, funded by the EU.
Drs Florian Fellinger (Austria) and Peter Demaeght (Belgium) in their presentations focused on Food safety and zoonotic disease emergence to showcase importance of national governance structure and surveillance programmes.
Mr Robb Butler, Director, WHO Regional Office for Europe, spoke about the importance of persistence and perseverance in communities and multilateralism for health priorities at the global level to tackle the major health threats, and also referred to the efforts of the WHO General Assembly to improve One Health. He elaborated on the importance of this One Health Seminar in Europe for consultations among quadripartite partners and members, highlighting a very interesting agenda that will enhance the implementation of the JPA. He also explained the activities of the One Health Technical Advisory Group, established by WHO-Europe a few years ago, and provided information on the upcoming Regional Committee meetings in October.
Educational and training initiatives were presented by Dr Barbara Alessandrini (WOAH), and supported by other speakers, including representatives of the DG Health and Food Safety of European Commission and Dr Patra Winter, Dean of Vetmeduni.
With great interest, the seminar audience listened to panelists’ discussion on the pathways 1, 2 and 3 of the Joint One Health Action Plan and its implementation guide, as well as partners’ perspectives and implementation strategies in Europe and Central Asia.
Participants in four working groups discussed issues at the national, subregional and regional levels related to five objectives, including commitment to translating the OH approach into policy action, raising awareness of health issues at the human-animal-environment interface, opportunities for cross-border collaboration, mobilizing resources, and integrating the OH approach into professional training curricula. All groups stressed that the environmental sector should be more actively involved in cooperation. Inter-ministerial communication needs to be improved and data sharing needs to be legally confirmed.
The Partner Platform meeting and the Technical Group meeting under ROHCM took place in the margins of the seminar, with very productive discussions and outcomes.
According to the feedback of many participants, the main achievement of the seminar was the crystallization of regional priorities and the establishment of the regional OH professional network, which will allow intensive communication in the region.
The documentation from the seminar, including the presentations and the reports of the working groups can be found below. The conclusions and recommendations will be made available after consultation with all the participants, which is currently taking place.
| Day 1: 11 June 2024 | |
| I. Opening Session | |
| II. Plenary Session, keynote speakers: Moderator Petra Hongell | |
| The political agenda and the Quadripartite collaboration at global level | Dr Chadia Wannous, Global One Health Coordinator, WOAH |
| One Health in Europe and Central Asia: Quadripartite coordination and country support | Mr. Peter Sousa Hoejskov, Technical Officer – Food Safety & Zoonotic Diseases, WHO Europe |
| Austrian One Health approach to tackling foodborne outbreaks | Dr Florian Fellinger, Deputy CVO of Austria |
| Advancing One Health in Europe: Insights from France’s Multisectoral Coordination Mechanisms (governance and leadership) | Dr Emmanuelle Soubeyran, CVO/Permanent Delegate of France, Recently elected Director General of WOAH (2024-2029) |
| National One Health Mechanism of Azerbaijan | Dr Galib Abdulaliyev, CVO/Permanent Delegate of Azerbaijan |
| Prevention of the (re)emergence of zoonotic disease | Dr Peter Demaeght (Belgian Ministry of Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment) |
| One Health collaboration in Sweden – to predict, prevent and control zoonosis and antibiotic resistance | Dr Lena Hellqvist Björnerot, CVO/Permanent Delegate of Sweden |
| One Health Activities in Georgia | Dr Vasili Basiladze, CVO/Permanent Delegate of Georgia, Vice-President of the WOAH Regional Commission for Europe |
| III. Session (interactive): Operationalizing the One Health Approach, Moderator Petra Hongell | |
| The One Health Joint Plan of Action (OH JPA) | Drs. Chadia Wannous (WOAH) |
| Introduction to the Quadripartite Guide to implementing the One Health Joint Plan of Action | Mr Cheng Liang, Technical Officer, One Health Initiative, WHO One Health Initiative (WHO) |
| Wrap-up and closing of day 1 | Dr Daniel Beltran-Alcrudo, Technical Advisor (Animal Health), FAO |
| Day 2: 12 June 2024 | |
| IV. Collaborative Approaches to One Health: Partners Perspectives and Implementation Strategies in Europe and Central Asia – Chair Dr Estelle Hamelin – WOAH | |
| One Health for Pandemic Prevention, Food Systems Resilience and Ecosystem Health in Central Asia | Mr Pierre Gerber, Senior Agriculture Economist at World Bank
Ms Charlotte Schrurs, Senior Agriculture Economist at World Bank |
| V. One Health Workshop, Moderator Petra Hongell | |
| VI. B2B event: ROHCM Partner Platform meeting | |
| Day 3: 13 June 2024 | |
| One Health Curriculum at the Veterinary Medicine University of Vienna | Dr Petra Winter (Dean of University) |
| Building capacities for One Health. Collaboration and coordination | Dr Barbara Alessandrini, WOAH, Head of Capacity Building Department |
| Reflections and Future Directions of One Health with a focus on Capacity Development | Dr Katinka de Balogh (FAO) |
| One Health surveillance and vector monitoring for cross-border pathogens | Dr Annette Nigsch (AGES – Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety) |
| Reports and outcomes of Working Groups (with discussion) | |
| Working Group 1 | |
| Working Group 2 | |
| Working Group 3 | |
| Working Group 4 | |
Other materials:
One Health Seminar for the European Region
One Health: recent/current activities
One Health Partner Platform Meeting Europe and Central Asia
WCS main objectives and One Health activities in Europe and Central Asia
