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From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
The One Health Initiative, a collaborative approach that links health, agriculture and environment sectors to prevent and manage disease outbreaks, has been launched in Ebonyi State.
The initiative was unveiled during a multi-stakeholder engagement held on Thursday in Abakaliki, the state capital.
The programme was organised by Evidence-Informed Policy Approaches for One Health (OH-Health) in conjunction with the Friedrich-Loeffler Institute (FLI), the African Institute for Health Policy and Health Systems Nigeria, and David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences (DUFUHS).
The engagement brought together senior policymakers from the Ministries of Health, Agriculture and Environment, as well as officials from the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency and the Health Insurance Agency.
Academic representatives from two universities—including deans, provosts and heads of departments—were also in attendance.
Speaking at the event, Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Jesse Uneke, highlighted the significance of the event, describing it as “a remarkable day for Ebonyi State.”
The state, he noted, is now leading efforts to domesticate the national One Health framework at the sub-national level—something many other states have yet to implement.
Uneke said the event would explore how disease transmission occurs across humans, animals and the environment, and to strengthen cross-sectoral collaboration in response.
“We hope that our discussions today will lead to actionable working documents that integrate the roles of the key ministries,” he said, emphasising the need for joint planning to detect, control and prevent future outbreaks, whether pandemic or endemic.
He commended Governor Francis Nwifuru for providing an enabling environment and approving the hosting of the programme, describing his support as evidence of his commitment to advancing public health in the state.
Unveiling the One Health Initiative, Governor Francis Nwifuru reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to improving health outcomes, boosting economic development and strengthening resilience against future epidemics and pandemics.
He emphasised that safeguarding the well-being of the state’s citizens remains a top priority under the People’s Charter of Needs of his manifesto.
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He noted that recent years have seen an increase in disease outbreaks across the world, with Africa bearing a disproportionately high burden of malaria, waterborne diseases, childhood illnesses, neglected tropical diseases and zoonotic infections.
The Governor highlighted the devastating impacts of the Ebola epidemic of 2013–2016 and the global COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed major structural weaknesses in health systems, especially in resource-constrained environments.
“These crises revealed the consequences of inadequate preparedness across sectors such as health, agriculture and the environment,” he said. “Unfortunately, insufficient efforts have been made at sub-national levels in Nigeria to build resilient, integrated systems capable of withstanding future epidemics.”
He described the One Health Initiative as a vital multisectoral and collaborative approach that recognises the interconnectedness of human, animal, plant and environmental health. He cited rapid urbanisation, high population density, deforestation and increased human–animal interactions in Ebonyi as key factors driving the rise of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases.
To address these challenges, the Governor announced strengthened collaboration among the state’s ministries of health, agriculture and environment, along with their agencies. He also called for closer partnerships between government bodies and researchers in universities and tertiary institutions to ensure that research evidence informs policymaking.
“The evidence generated in our institutions must get into the hands of policymakers so that evidence-based and context-specific policies can be developed for Ebonyi State,” he said.
He pledged sustained government funding and political commitment towards improving the health, agriculture and environmental sectors.
Nwifuru expressed gratitude to international partners supporting the state’s One Health efforts, including the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (Germany), which is funding the One Health Project in Nigeria through a grant to the David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, with Professor Jesse Uneke as principal investigator.
In a keynote address, Dr Laxmikant Chavan, Technical Officer, Anti-Microbial Resistance and One Health Coordinator at the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office Abuja, called for implementation of the policy at the sub-national levels by all the states in the country.
He said this is because states are at the frontline of health service delivery, veterinary services, environmental protection and community engagement.
He noted that One Health enhances states’ and local government areas’ ability to detect outbreaks early and respond quickly, improve food safety and strengthen agribusiness value chains, promote responsible use of antimicrobials and reduce the spread of resistant germs, reduce the economic burden of diseases in livestock and humans, and protect water sources.
