This One Health Policy addresses epidemics and cross-cutting health threats like Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), food safety, climate change, and ecosystem degradation, underscoring the importance of a resilient and sustainable health systems capable of preventing and mitigating threats through the collaborative and holistic One Health approach. Therefore, this One Health policy outlines strategic actions to integrate the expertise of multiple sectors to enhance prevention, rapid detection, and timely response to cross-cutting health threats. The Policy focuses on six strategic objectives anchored on six Policy pillars: governance and coordination, workforce development, research and development, One Health financing, integrated surveillance and response, and advocacy, communication, and community engagement. The vision of the Policy presents a resilient Sierra Leone where the highest standards of human, animal, plant, and environmental health are achieved through collaborative, sustainable, and equitable One Health actions ensuring the well-being of all communities. The Mission aims at effectively and efficiently preventing, detecting, and responding to public health threats at the human-animal-plant-environmental interface by strengthening multisectoral coordination and integrating efforts across all relevant sectors. The Policy goal is the reduction of the burden of public health threats and mitigate risks from the human-animal-plant-environmental interface through enhanced coordination, collaboration, and integration of efforts among multiple sectors. According to the strategic objectives, the Policy describes the following strategies and actions: enhancing the human resource capacity of and operational capacity by mainstreaming regulations and legislation to enforce multisectoral coordination and ensuring formal and equitable representation from all relevant sectors; strengthening integrated surveillance and joint risk assessments at the human-animal–plant–environmental interface to strengthen rapid detection and reporting capacity; supporting operational research to generate data for evidence-based mitigation, detection, and intervention programmes; establishing a formal mechanism for information sharing among relevant stakeholders to facilitate the implementation of food safety programmes, focusing on One Health coordination along the entire value chain; supporting integrated risk management decisions, and improving food systems data and analysis, scientific evidence, and risk assessment; promoting the prudent and appropriate use of antimicrobials, including assuring the quality of available medicines, conservation of existing treatments, and access to appropriate antimicrobials; integrating environmental knowledge, data, and evidence into One Health decision-making by enhancing ecological surveillance, wildlife health surveillance and data sharing; integrating environmental conservation efforts into public health strategies, through reforestation and afforestation programmes, sustainable land use planning, pollution control, and addressing climate change as a driver of health risks; promotion of gender equality and inclusion in the interventions to implement One Health approach.
Sierra Leone · 2024-11-01