The One Health Horizon Scanning exercise, led by CABI, collected views from more than 400 stakeholders in governments, research institutions, NGOs and international organisations. The study concluded that the main obstacle to timely outbreak detection is poor information flow between sectors rather than simply missing data.
Respondents ranked integrated surveillance — systems that unite human, livestock, agricultural and ecosystem expertise — as a top priority. Yahaya Ali Ahmed of WHO Africa said: “We need to ensure surveillance at all levels of the health system, including the peripheral level.” Raji Tajudeen of Africa CDC added: “Every outbreak begins and ends in the community,” and argued for trained, numerous and properly integrated community health workers.
Delays are visible in Nigeria’s Lassa fever belt, where Médecins Sans Frontières reported patients arriving late and warned diagnostics must be usable at the point of care. The CABI brief also highlights environmental drivers and notes that plant health and topics like pesticides and mycotoxins are underrepresented in research. Countries such as Kenya are improving cross-sector sharing, but financing for priorities like AMR remains limited.
Difficult words
- stakeholder — person or group with an interest in a projectstakeholders
- surveillance — system for watching and reporting health events
- outbreak — sudden increase in disease cases in one place
- integrated — combined so different parts work together
- peripheral — located at the outer edge of a system
- diagnostic — medical tests that identify disease or infectiondiagnostics
- community health worker — local health staff who work with people where they livecommunity health workers
- financing — providing money needed for a project or plan
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- How could integrated surveillance systems change disease detection in your area?
- What are the biggest challenges to sharing information between different health sectors where you live?
- What role can local health workers play to detect and manage outbreaks earlier?
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