Experts working in One Health are urging governments and agencies to develop fully integrated surveillance systems that link community-level data across human, animal, plant and environmental sectors. They say these systems are essential for early detection and rapid response to health threats that move between species and ecosystems.
The call came at a virtual roundtable on Thursday (12 December), organised by SciDev.Net and CABI. The discussion highlighted the One Health Horizon Scanning report, led by the One Health Hub through the Juno Evidence Alliance. That exercise identified five research priority areas and ranked integrated surveillance—linking data and action across sectors—as the most urgent priority.
Panelists noted that many countries already collect large volumes of animal, human, environment or plant health data, but the data are often siloed, uneven and weakly linked to decision-making. They argued the priority is not surveillance in the abstract but making it operational and decision-oriented, and stressed surveillance must work at community level because outbreaks often start there. Elizabeth Gonese said communities need information they can interpret, trust and act upon, and warned against parallel systems whose outputs do not match community realities. Kikiope Oluwarore described data as fragmented and not communicating across sectors. Michael Osae pointed to evidence of declining pollinator populations and harms from increased use of pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilisers, which affect plant, human and ecosystem health.
Speakers called for more investment in surveillance systems that work across sectors, countries and regions so data lead to faster, coordinated responses. The article was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa English desk and was supported by One Health Hub. One Health Hub is managed by CABI with funding from UK International Development; the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s official policies.
Difficult words
- surveillance — Systematic collection and monitoring of health data
- integrated — Joined together across different sectors or parts
- siloed — Kept separate and not shared between groups
- operational — Ready to use in practice; put into action
- community — A group of people living in one areacommunities
- pollinator — An animal that transfers pollen between plants
- pesticide — Chemical used to kill pests on crops or plantspesticides
- ecosystem — All interacting living things and their environmentecosystems
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- What challenges do you think communities face when data from different sectors are not linked?
- How could integrated surveillance at community level change the response to a new health threat?
- What are possible barriers to creating coordinated surveillance systems across countries and regions?
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