Mercy ANURIKA
The Government of Senegal, FAO, ECOWAS, WHO, OIE and their partners in West African countries including Cameroon met in Dakar to take stock of the implementation of the recommendations from the regional meetings and the status of the “One Health” approach in development plans and strategies.
The FAO-OIE-WHO tripartite and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) promote collaboration between the human health, animal health and environment sectors at global, regional and national levels to provide synergistic and more effective responses to reduce these threats. This is known as the “One Health” approach.
At the regional and sub-regional levels, three high-level meetings were held on this issue and concluded with a set of recommendations to the Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), sub-regional organisations and technical and financial partners.
During two days, the status of implementation of these recommendations was made and especially the situation of the functioning of the “One Health” platforms in the countries was made. The strong collaboration between the operational teams of animal health, human health and environment was highlighted.
The exchanges provided each delegation with information to strengthen the implementation of the “One Health” approach and thus equip countries with mechanisms to deal with public health emergencies.
To support the countries to achieve this, FAO, according to its representative at the workshop, Bintia Stephen Tchicaya, Senior Policy Officer at the FAO Subregional Office for West Africa, on behalf of the Subregional Coordinator of the Office, reaffirmed the support of his Institution: “FAO will always stand by your side in line with its mandate which supports the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the Global Goals of its Members which calls on FAO to put in place effective policies for sustainable, inclusive and resilient agri-food systems for better production, better nutrition, better environment and better life leaving no one behind. We will therefore always be ready to accompany you on the technical and normative level so that you can carry out your activities successfully.
Senegal, in the implementation of the “One Health” approach, is an example and all the actors and partners in the fields of agriculture, environment and livestock work in symbiosis and united in action. The Secretary General of the Government of Senegal, Abdou Latif Coulibaly, highlighted the key actions carried out under his supervision as Chairman of the Steering Committee of the High National Council for Global Health Security “One Health”. “Under the impetus of the President of the Republic, His Excellency Macky Sall, Senegal, always quick to respect its national and sub-regional commitments, has set up a special High Council to deal with the issue because humans, animals and the environment are inseparable and the perfect symbiosis between them is a guarantee of a peaceful life and the individual and collective well-being. Resources have been made available to facilitate the functioning of the Committee,” he concluded during the opening ceremony of this regional meeting.
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