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The world must move from commitments to concrete action on the One Health agenda, President John Dramani Mahama has declared.
He warned that climate change, ecosystem degradation and pollution were converging to create health threats "at a scale unprecedented in human history."
Delivering a keynote address at the high-level One Health Summit in Lyon, France, yesterday, President Mahama, who is also the Co-chair of the summit, said the interconnected crises of infectious disease outbreaks, antimicrobial resistance and food system disruptions were intensifying with alarming frequency and complexity.
"We are living in truly interesting times, and much of what we previously took for granted is now being questioned, while our old answers have become new questions,” President Mahama said.
"Let us move from commitments to action," President Mahama stressed, adding, "Let us ensure that the decisions we take here lead to tangible, measurable outcomes that protect both people and the planet".
The summit brought together global health leaders, quadripartite representatives and government officials to push the One Health agenda, a unified approach that recognises that the health of people, animals, plants, and the shared environment are inseparable.
Instead of treating human health, animal health and ecosystem health as separate silos, One Health brings together experts across sectors, from medical doctors and veterinarians to environmental scientists and agricultural specialists, to prevent, detect and respond to health threats holistically.
President Mahama thanked President Emmanuel Macron of France, Co-chair of the summit, for convening the summit and the quadripartite organisations for their continued leadership.
The quadripartite, a collaborative partnership between four key international organisations — the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE) — was launched in 2022 to implement a unified One Health.
President Mahama’s address painted a picture of a planet in peril. “The environmental catastrophe confronting us is visible in the waves of the sea, the melting glaciers, the rainforests, and the desert storms”, he said.
For Africa, President Mahama emphasised that One Health was far from an abstract concept.
“In Ghana, diseases and pests are affecting smallholder cocoa farmers and threatening millions of livelihoods, while illegal gold mining continues to degrade forests and pollute water bodies, putting biodiversity at risk,” President Mahama said.
Drawing on the continent's rich heritage, he said long before One Health was formally defined, African ancestors had mastered integrated health practices.
“Even today, more than 50 per cent of our population relies on herbs and natural forest resources for medicine, reflecting a deep-rooted culture of integrated health practices,” President Mahama said, adding that across Africa, experiences affirm that human survival, animal well-being, plant health and environmental care form a single interconnected system.
He traced this knowledge to Africa's great civilisations: "From Songhai to Great Zimbabwe, from Timbuktu to Aksum and ancient Egypt, knowledge systems have existed for diagnosing and treating diseases, managing pests and sustaining agriculture."
Reflecting on recent health emergencies, including COVID-19, Mpox, Lassa fever and Marburg, the co-chair said each outbreak had reinforced the importance of the One Health approach.
"These experiences have taught us that prevention is more effective and far more cost-efficient than cure,” he said, highlighting Ghana's implementation of initiatives such as the Ghana Medical Trust Fund and ongoing efforts to strengthen primary healthcare systems.
However, President Mahama struck a sombre note on global inequity: “It is regrettable that countries most at risk often have the least resources to respond, and this inequity must be addressed, as a healthy and thriving Africa is a positive force for global progress”, he said.
Despite frequent discussions on One Health, President Mahama warned that progress in building necessary infrastructure had been slow.
"We must now muster the political will to integrate fragmented systems and ensure that this summit in Lyon becomes a turning point,” he said.
President Mahama threw in a three-point call to action: integrate One Health into national and global frameworks, strengthen surveillance and early warning systems, and ensure decisions taken at the summit lead to tangible and measurable outcomes.
