One Health: a concept led by Africa, with global benefits

One Health evolved from the recognition that an interdisciplinary approach is required to understand complex health problems, and that the health of humans and animals are inextricably linked. Through closer cooperation between the human, veterinary and environmental health sectors, added value, in terms of health metrics, cost savings and environmental services is achievable. Although the One Health concept has been recognised for many years, particularly since the seminal work of Calvin Schwabe (Schwabe 1984), many challenges remain in making it operational. and human health agencies, responsible for disease prediction, prevention and control, have been embedded in many developed countries since the 19th century, with institutional barriers impeding horizontal collaboration. The resulting gulf between human and animal health, caused by disciplinary conventions and cultures rather than scientific rationale, divides medicine in two. In Africa, however, where people’s lives are intimately related to the health and productivity of livestock and the natural environment, the situation is different. national medical and veterinary institutions are still maturing, which presents African health professionals with an opportunity to build on an instinctive understanding of the connectivity between people, animals and their environments, and to ‘leapfrog’ barriers imposed by more well-established and rigid institutional systems. If this succeeds, African scientists and African institutions have the opportunity to become world leaders in One Health. The establishment of an effective inter-ministerial zoonotic disease unit in Kenya, which has rapidly developed integrated national plans for rabies control and elimination, is one example of how these opportunities are being met with innovative cross-sectoral structures. Opportunities for One Health in Africa are also provided by new academic organisations, such as the nelson Mandela African Institutions of Science and Technology (nMAIST), which aim to train and nurture the next generation of African scientists to address the development needs of the continent. These fledgling institutions – the Tanzanian campus of Viewpoint