The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) jointly announce the establishment of the FAO/WHO/WOAH Joint One Health Learning Taskforce, a coordination mechanism dedicated to strengthening One Health workforce capacity in support of effective One Health implementation at global, regional, and national levels. 

The Taskforce responds to the growing need to equip the human, animal, plant, and environment health workforce with the cross-cutting and profession-specific competencies required to prevent, predict, detect, and respond to complex health threats at the human–animal–environment interface. 

The Joint One Health Learning Taskforce adopts a competency-based, learner-centred approach, supporting both the integration of One Health principles into formal education and the provision of lifelong learning opportunities that enable professionals to address current and emerging challenges. 

The Taskforce leverages and connects the complementary strengths of the FAO eLearning Academy and Virtual Learning Centres, the WHO Academy, and the WOAH Training Platform, by building on existing successful programmes while promoting innovation, flexibility, and responsiveness to country and regional needs. By doing so, it supports the translation of One Health principles into practical action and implementation. 

In line with its Terms of Reference, the Taskforce aims to: 

To ensure agility and effectiveness, the Taskforce pools technical, pedagogical, technological, intellectual, and financial resources, promotes the combined use of existing platforms and tools at regional and country levels, maximising value for Members. 

Through this initiative, FAO, WHO, and WOAH reaffirm their joint commitment to strengthening One Health implementation through workforce development, recognising that a skilled, collaborative, and empowered workforce is a cornerstone of resilient health systems and improved outcomes for humans, animals, plants, and the environment.

For more information about the Joint One Health Taskforce, please consult the Terms of Reference: One Health Learning Taskforce

Today, the Fourth Quadripartite Executive Annual Meeting will convene in Lyon, France, from 8-9 April 2026. The meeting will focus on preventing future health crises through more integrated systems for managing the health of animals, humans, plants and ecosystems.

Preventing future health crises requires urgent, coordinated action that recognizes the deep interconnections between the health of people, animals, plants and ecosystems. As global challenges intensify – including emerging infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change – this coordinated work between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) – also known as the One Health approach – has become increasingly important.

“One Health is not a new idea, but the urgency to make it work everywhere is. From WOAH’s perspective, strengthening Veterinary Services and animal health systems is a cornerstone of the One Health approach.” said Dr Emmanuelle Soubeyran, Director General of the World Organisation for Animal Health. “By working together across sectors, we can better detect risks early, reduce their impact, and protect livelihoods, public health, and ecosystems.” 

Building on the One Health Joint Plan of Action, the Quadripartite is advancing progress across four interdependent priority areas: 

• advancing implementation at country level: Translating commitments into action remains a central priority. The Quadripartite continues to support countries in operationalizing the One Health approach through strengthened multisectoral coordination, national planning processes, and capacity development. Scaling up implementation is critical to achieving tangible and measurable impact; 

• strengthening science, evidence and knowledge exchange:  Effective One Health action relies on robust scientific evidence and integrated data across sectors. The Quadripartite is fostering collaboration with the scientific community, strengthening data systems, and promoting the use of evidence to inform decision-making, guide interventions and monitor progress; 

• enhancing policy engagement and governance: Sustained political commitment and strong governance are essential to embed One Health into national and international agendas. The Quadripartite is supporting countries in developing enabling policy frameworks, strengthening cross-sectoral coordination mechanisms, and promoting coherent approaches across ministries and sectors; and mobilizing sustainable financing for One Health: Adequate and coordinated financing is necessary to sustain implementation and scale up impact. The Quadripartite is working with governments and partners to strengthen investment frameworks, align resources, and support countries in integrating One Health into national budgeting and development strategies. 

Together, these priorities enable countries to prevent risks at source, detect emerging threats early, and respond effectively to health threats, while building resilient systems. Strengthened surveillance and early warning systems, resilient food and agricultural systems, healthy ecosystems, and robust veterinary and public health services are essential components of this approach. 

Scaling up One Health requires sustained commitment across all four areas. The Quadripartite calls on governments, international financial institutions, development partners and the private sector to support integrated action by strengthening implementation, investing in science and data, reinforcing governance and policy frameworks, and ensuring sustainable financing. 

Advancing One Health is essential to reducing risks at the human–animal–environment interface and to building more resilient, inclusive and sustainable societies. The Quadripartite organizations reaffirm their commitment to working together and with partners worldwide to deliver coordinated, impactful and sustainable One Health action. 

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Through the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on One Health, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) reaffirm their shared commitment to advancing the implementation of the One Health approach.

Building on longstanding cooperation and successful joint efforts, and recognizing the interdependence of the health of humans, animals, plants, ecosystems, and the wider environment, the Quadripartite organisations remain committed to coordinated, multisectoral action to address current and emerging health challenges at the interface.

The renewed MoU continues to provide the legal and operational framework for collaboration, leveraging the respective mandates and comparative advantages of each organisation. It reinforces possibilities for cooperation across key priority areas, including health systems strengthening; prevention, preparedness and response to epidemics and pandemics; control of endemic and neglected diseases; antimicrobial resistance; food safety; and the systematic integration of environmental considerations into One Health policies and actions.

Guided by principles of cooperation, shared responsibility, inclusiveness, equity, and gender equality, the Quadripartite will continue to advance evidence-based policies and coordinated support to countries and partners to accelerate the implementation of the One Health approach.

Through this renewed Memorandum of Understanding, FAO, UNEP, WHO, and WOAH reaffirm their collective determination to reduce health risks and promote sustainable health outcomes for humans, animals, plants, ecosystems, and the wider environment worldwide. This renewed Memorandum of Understanding shall remain in force until 28 November 2030. The full text of the revised MoU and the letter of renewal are available: MoU between FAO, UNEP, WHO, WOAH regarding cooperation on One Health

Issued at the Third Quadripartite Executive Annual Meeting, 25 – 27 March 2025, WOAH Headquarters, Paris 

As global leaders in human, animal, plant and ecosystem health, the Quadripartite collaboration comprising – the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) – reaffirms its unwavering commitment to advancing the One Health approach. This integrated approach is essential to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals, plants, and ecosystems and to address health risks at the human-animal-environment interface. Meeting at WOAH headquarters in Paris for the Third Quadripartite Executive Annual Meeting, we call for urgent, strategic, and sustained support and investments to scale up One Health implementation worldwide. 

Advancing the One Health agenda 

Since its establishment in March 2022, the Quadripartite has made significant progress in four strategic priority areas: 

1. Implementation of the One Health Joint Plan of Action (OH JPA): Over the past year, the Quadripartite has strengthened cross-sectoral collaboration through regional and sub-regional One Health workshops in Europe, Central Asia, and the Pacific Islands, leading to increased adoption of the OH JPA at the national level. Capacity-building efforts have expanded, with multiple country-level workshops focusing on workforce development, joint risk assessments, and multisectoral coordination mechanisms. Additionally, key implementation tools have been translated into multiple languages, increasing their accessibility and adoption. 

2. Strengthening One Health science and evidence: The second term of the Quadripartite One Health High-Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP) has been established, broadening its expertise to include social sciences, economics, and governance. Key scientific deliverables will include mapping international legal and policy instruments that have a bearing on One Health and analyzing barriers and enablers of One Health implementation. The Quadripartite One Health Knowledge Nexus serves as an interactive space for collective knowledge generation and co-learning. Under this platform, a joint Community of Practice was launched in November 2023 on the Return on Investment for One Health. A new Community of Practice on One Health governance is planned to be launched in 2025. In 2024, the Quadripartite contributed actively to the 8th World One Health Congress and several other international scientific fora to strengthen partnerships with the scientific community. 

3. Enhancing political engagement and advocacy: The Quadripartite played a significant role in global political processes, advocating for the inclusion of One Health in major discussions and declarations. This includes supporting the adoption of a UN General Assembly political declaration on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and advocating for One Health integration in G20 Health Ministerial discussions and declarations. Additionally, the Quadripartite contributed to the adoption of a Global Action Plan on Biodiversity and Health at the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16) and hosted a high-level One Health event at UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) to promote climate-health policy integration. 
4. Mobilising investments for One Health: The Quadripartite is developing a Joint Offer – a unified advocacy document for targeted One Health investments. This effort will be bolstered by structured outreach to funding partners through roundtable discussions and high-level dialogues. The Quadripartite continues to advocate for embedding One Health in existing financial mechanisms, and strengthening regional and national One Health investment planning to catalyze broader financial commitments, ensuring sustainable investments at national and global levels.

Investing in One Health now 

The complexity of today’s health challenges – ranging from AMR and zoonotic diseases to food safety risks and climate-related health threats, amongst others – demands an integrated and well-resourced One Health response. Investing in One Health is not an option; it is an imperative. It is a strategic and cost-effective approach to preventing future health crises, reducing economic losses, strengthening global health security, and promoting sustainable development.

The Quadripartite underscores that investing in One Health today is an investment in a safer, healthier, and more resilient future. The world cannot afford to wait. We call on policymakers, donors and global leaders to act decisively, turning commitments into concrete actions and ensuring that One Health is effectively implemented, leaving no one behind.

Rome/Paris/Geneva/Nairobi – At the request of the Quadripartite organizations, the One Health High-Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP) recently published a white paper calling for enhanced prevention of zoonotic spillover within the triad of Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response. The paper advocates for the need to reduce the risk of zoonotic disease spillover at source through improved prevention measures, an approach that is more efficient than relying on disease detection and response. 

In view of current opportunities – including the negotiations for a new pandemic instrument and the Pandemic Fund for prevention, preparedness and response – the Quadripartite welcomes OHHLEP’s call to promote prevention, align strategies, fill gaps, and sustain risk reduction.     

The paper states “(It’s) clear that pandemic prevention at the source cannot continue as an afterthought – a much larger commitment is overdue and sorely needed to prevent future pandemics”. It highlights that efforts to prevent epidemics usually only begin after a microorganism (pathogen) has already made the leap from animals to humans (described as a spillover event), allowing a given disease to re-emerge or new ones to emerge. It recommends distinguishing containment of outbreak activities from those targeting the prevention of spillover.  This intends to draw attention to the lack of emphasis and resources currently devoted to prevention and the reduction of risks at source.    

The OHHLEP proposes the following definition:

“Prevention of pathogen spillover from animals to humans means shifting the infectious disease control paradigm from reactive to proactive (primary prevention). Prevention includes addressing the drivers of disease emergence, namely ecological, meteorological and anthropogenic factors and activities that increase spillover risk, in order to reduce the risk of human infection. It is informed by, amongst other actions, biosurveillance in natural hosts, people and the environment, understanding pathogen infection dynamics and implementing intervention activities.”

Shifting the paradigm from reactive to proactive requires One Health approaches that address the multiple drivers of disease emergence. These include changes in land use related to infrastructure and industry development or agricultural expansion, and unsustainable, unsafe or illegal animal hunting, farming, and trade. Overarching drivers such as climate change, poverty and socioeconomic inequalities, and basic animal and human health and animal welfare practices, also need to be considered.

The paper points out that “preventing future pandemics will require sustainable investment in spillover prevention” and actions to prevent disease spillover are more cost effective than response activities. Prevention costs range from an estimated US$ 10 billion to US$ 31 billion per year globally, while the response to recent infectious disease crises such as Ebola and Mpox epidemics cost more time and money than what would be required to initiate prevention approaches. For example, the expected economic losses from the COVID-19 pandemic are estimated at nearly US$14 trillion through 2024.

The OHHLEP underscores that the One Health approach would not just help to prevent new epidemics and pandemics, but would also provide significant economic, social and environmental co-benefits such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

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About the One Health High-Level Expert Panel

The OHHLEP is a key advisory group to the Quadripartite, comprising the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).  

Paris/Rome/Geneva/Nairobi – Recent international health emergencies such as COVID-19 pandemic, mpox, Ebola outbreaks, and continued threats of other zoonotic diseases, food safety, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) challenges, as well as ecosystem degradation and climate change clearly demonstrate the need for resilient health systems and accelerated global action. One Health is seen as the main approach for tackling these pressing and complex challenges facing our society.

At their first annual face-to-face meeting today, the heads of the Quadripartite organizations working on One Health issued an unprecedented call for enhanced global action.

The Quadripartite aims to achieve together what no one sector can achieve alone, and it consists of four main agencies: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Health Organization (WHO) and World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).

Call to action

Stressing the need for enhanced collaboration and commitment to translate the One Health approach into policy action in all countries, the Quadripartite leaders urge all countries and key stakeholders to promote and undertake the following priority actions:

1. Prioritize One Health in the international political agenda, increase understanding and advocate for the adoption and promotion of the enhanced intersectoral health governance. The One Health approach should notably serve as a guiding principle in global mechanisms; including in the new pandemic instrument and the pandemic fund to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response;
2. Strengthen national One Health policies, strategies and plans, costed and prioritized in line with the Quadripartite One Health Joint Plan of Action (OH JPA), to foster wider implementation across relevant sectors and at all levels;
3. Accelerate the implementation of One Health plans, including supporting of national One Health governance and multisectoral coordination mechanisms, development of situation analyses, stakeholder mapping, priority setting, and metrics for One Health monitoring and evaluation frameworks;
4. Build intersectoral One Health workforces that have the skills, capacities and capabilities to prevent, detect, control, and respond to health threats in a timely and effective way, by strengthening joint pre-service and continuing education for human, animal, and environmental health workforces;
5. Strengthen and sustain prevention of pandemics and health threats at source, targeting activities and places that increase the risk of zoonotic spillover between animals to humans;
6. Encourage and strengthen One Health scientific knowledge and evidence creation and exchange, research and development, technology transfer and sharing and integrating of information and data and facilitate access to new tools and technologies; and
7. Increase investment and financing of One Health strategies and plans ensuring scaled up implementation at all levels, including funding for prevention of health threats at source.

To build one healthier planet we need urgent action to galvanize vital political commitments, greater investment and multisectoral collaboration at every level.

The Quadripartite has been playing a central role in promoting and coordinating a global One Health approach, in line with the OH JPA ^[1] which was launched in October 2022. To further support countries and governments putting the One Health approach into practice, the Quadripartite partners are developing an OH JPA implementation guide to be released in 2023.

Signed by:

• QU Dongyu, Director-General, FAO
• Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UNEP
• Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO
• Monique Eloit, Director-General, WOAH

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^[1] one-health-joint-plan-of-action-final.pdf (woah.org)

By Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and World Health Organization (WHO)

As we enter the third year of the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is spreading between people at an intense level globally.  There are many factors that are driving transmission. One of these is the emergence of highly transmissible variants of concern, the latest being Omicron.  The virus continues to evolve and the risk of future emergence of variants is high.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic is driven by human-to-human transmission, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is also known to infect animal species. Current knowledge indicates that wildlife does not play a significant role in the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in humans, but spread in animal populations can affect the health of these populations and may facilitate the emergence of new virus variants.

In addition to domestic animals, free-ranging, captive or farmed wild animals such as big cats, minks, ferrets, North American white-tailed deer and great apes have thus far been observed to be infected with SARS-CoV-2. To date, farmed mink and pet hamsters have been shown to be capable of infecting humans with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and a potential case of transmission between white-tailed deer and a human is currently under review.

The introduction of SARS-CoV-2 to wildlife could result in the establishment of animal reservoirs. For example, it has been reported that, approximately one-third of wild white-tailed deer in the United States of America have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, initially via several human-to-deer transmission events. The SARS-CoV-2 lineages detected in white-tailed deer have also been circulating in close-by human populations. White-tailed deer have been shown to shed virus and transmit it between each other.

FAO, OIE and WHO call on all countries to take steps to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission between humans and wildlife with the aim of reducing the risk of variant emergence and for protecting both humans and wildlife. We urge authorities to adopt relevant regulations and disseminate previously released recommendations by FAO, OIE and WHO to (1) people working in close contact with or handling wildlife, including hunters and butchers; and (2) the public.

Personnel working closely with wildlife should be trained to implement measures that reduce the risk of transmission between people and between people and animals, using WHO advice on how to protect oneself and prevent the spread of COVID-19, and OIE and FAO guidelines on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and good hygiene practices around animals, including good hygiene practices for hunters and butchers.

Current evidence suggests that humans are not infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus by eating meat. However, hunters should not track animals that appear sick or harvest those that are found dead. Appropriate butchering and food preparing techniques, including proper hygiene practices, can limit transmission of coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, and other zoonotic pathogens.

FAO, OIE and WHO stress that the public should be educated about contact with wildlife. Some wild animals may come close to human settlements and residential areas. As a general precaution, people should not approach or feed wild animals or touch or eat those that are orphaned, sick or found dead (including road kills). Instead, they should contact local wildlife authorities or a wildlife health professional.

It is also crucial to safely dispose of uneaten food, masks, tissues, and any other human waste to avoid attracting wildlife, especially to urban areas and, if possible, keep domestic animals away from wildlife and their droppings.

We furthermore encourage countries’ national animal and human health services to adopt the following measures:

• Encourage collaboration between national veterinary services and national wildlife authorities, whose partnership is key to promoting animal health and safeguarding human and environmental health.
• Promote monitoring of wildlife and encourage sampling of wild animals known to be potentially susceptible to SARS-CoV-2.
• Share all genetic sequence data from animal surveillance studies through publicly available databases.
• Report confirmed animal cases of SARS-CoV-2 to the OIE through the World Animal Health Information System (OIE-WAHIS).
• Craft messages about SARS-CoV-2 in animals with care so that inaccurate public perceptions do not negatively impact conservation efforts. No animal found to be infected with SARS-CoV-2 should be abandoned, rejected, or killed without providing justification from a country- or event-specific risk assessment.
• OIE and WHO also recommend to suspend the sale of captured live wild mammals in food markets as an emergency measure 

Our organizations emphasize the importance of monitoring mammalian wildlife populations for SARS-CoV-2 infection, reporting results to National Veterinary Services (who report these findings to the OIE) and sharing genomic sequencing data on publicly available databases. Countries should also adopt precautions to reduce the risk of establishment of animal reservoirs and potential acceleration of virus evolution in novel hosts, which could lead to the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. Such measures will preserve the health of precious wildlife as well as humans.

We invite governments and other stakeholders to bring the contents of this joint statement to the attention of competent authorities and all parties concerned.

Joint Tripartite (FAO, OIE, WHO) and UNEP Statement

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) welcome the newly formed operational definition of One Health from their advisory panel, the One Health High Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP), whose members represent a broad range of disciplines in science and policy-related sectors relevant to One Health from around the world. The four organizations are working together to mainstream One Health so that they are better prepared to prevent, predict, detect, and respond to global health threats and promote sustainable development.

The One Health definition developed by the OHHLEP states:

One Health is an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems. It recognizes the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the wider environment (including ecosystems) are closely linked and inter-dependent.The approach mobilizes multiple sectors, disciplines and communities at varying levels of society to work together to foster well-being and tackle threats to health and ecosystems, while addressing the collective need for clean water, energy and air, safe and nutritious food, taking action on climate change, and contributing to sustainable development.

The importance of establishing a One Health definition was first raised by OHHLEP, and later agreed by the four Partners, to develop a common language and understanding around One Health.

The new comprehensive OHHLEP One Health definition aims to promote a clear understanding and translation across sectors and areas of expertise.

While health, food, water, energy, and environment are all wider topics with sector-specific and specialist concerns, the collaboration across sectors and disciplines will contribute to protecting health, addressing health challenges such as the emergence of infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance and promoting health and integrity of our ecosystems. Moreover, One Health, linking humans, animals and the environment, can help to address the full spectrum of disease control – from disease prevention to detection, preparedness, response, and management – and to improve and promote health and sustainability.

The approach can be applied at community, subnational, national, regional, and global levels, and relies on shared and effective governance, communication, collaboration and coordination. With the One Health approach in place, it will be easier for people to better understand the co-benefits, risks, trade-offs and opportunities to advance equitable and holistic solutions.

Through combined energies of the four organizations, a comprehensive Global Plan of Action for One Health is in development, supported and advised by OHHLEP. This Plan aims to mainstream and operationalize One Health at global, regional, and national levels; support countries in establishing and achieving national targets and priorities for interventions; mobilize investment; promote a whole of society approach and enable collaboration, learning and exchange across regions, countries, and sectors.

As we acknowledge the importance of the One Health approach and welcome the OHHLEP One Health definition, the Tripartite and UNEP will continue to coordinate and implement One Health activities in line with the spirit of the new OHHLEP definition of One Health.

Click here for more information on OHHLEP