Kenya has made strides towards addressing major hurdles hurting the implementation of ‘One Health’ approach.
Last week, experts drawn from environment, animal and human health met in Machakos to find solutions on how the country can scale up the approach.
‘One Health’ approach is a collaborative, multi-sectoral and trans-disciplinary way of working to improve the health of people, animals, plants and the environment.
Experts say there is need to implement the concept in order to address triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and waste management.
Dr John Mumbo, Nema senior principal environment enforcement and compliance officer, said environment sector must also form part of the approach.
“There is a need to integrate environmental leadership in One Health for sustainable food and ecosystem security across the country,” Mumbo said.
Cyrus Mageria, director of partnership and wildlife coexistence at the Ministry of Tourism, said the approach expands the interconnectedness between wildlife, humans and the environment.
Heightened interactions between wildlife and human beings can easily transmit pathogens.
He said there is a need for a framework that advocates for stakeholders across various sectors for a common goal.
Mageria said the silo approach needs to be done away with, as it is not helpful.
Dr Joshua Onono from the University of Nairobi said Kenya has been involved in several activities involving a multi sectoral ‘One Health’ approach.
He said Kenya is not limited to research and innovation, national policies and strategies development.
“Despite making these steps, and limited collaboration among actors while public awareness and involvement of the environmental sector remain suboptimal,” Onono said.
The experts said there is a growing recognition of the intricate interdependence among human health, the health of domestic and wild animals, plant health and the environment in which they exist.
