Strengthening One Health governance and Data Use in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic opened wide the eyes of the global community to the fact that health issues cannot be handled in isolation, but only through a holistic approach, requiring coordinated multi-sectoral intervention, with human health, animal health, and environmental health stakeholders working closely together across all levels of healthcare. This is generally referred to as the One Health approach. Many health development partners are paying attention to this.
On Monday 1st July 2024, the One Health Data Alliance for Africa project (OHDAA) funded by the German Government supported key stakeholders in Malawi from the human health, animal health, and environmental sectors under the leadership of the Public Health Institute of Malawi - Research Division (PHIM), to convene a one-day workshop in Mponela, Malawi to identify entry points for strengthening One Health governance and data use.
The stakeholders identified rabies as an entry point. A World Health Organization article in 2015 reported that nearly 500 people die each year due to rabies. Of the more than 400,000 dogs in the country, only 0.5% are vaccinated against rabies annually. The One Health Steering Committee will convene regularly to monitor progress towards “zero dog-mediated human rabies deaths by 2030”. To do this, the One Health Technical Committee will work with Digital One Health technicians in-country to integrate systems that will consolidate data on rabies from the multisector, analyze this, and present it on sound dashboards for decision support. All this will be implemented using a health systems strengthening approach, permitting the integration of further diseases and conditions in the future on the One Health platform, e.g. AMR, Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS), anthrax, etc.
Generating data for decision support even within one sector like public/human health is already difficult. Realizing this in the One Health space is a bald and brave step, but worth taking. Malawi is making great strides already. Lessons drawn from Malawi could inform other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.
The German Government (BMZ) through Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is implementing the One Health Data Alliance for Africa (OHDAA) project, strengthening One Health governance and data management and use in Africa. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is working closely with the African Union Inter African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU IBAR) as the Secretariat of OHDAA and management4health AG, Compelling Works, and Ausvet as implementing partners. Countries and regions currently supported include Malawi, Rwanda, Cameroon, the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) in the Horn of Africa, and the African Union.
The author, Simon Ndira, PhD, MPH, is a Digital Health Specialist, Technical Project Manager, Founder & CEO of Compelling Works, a development consultancy firm promoting health, wellbeing, and development through practical digital solutions.
