One Health Is No Longer an Option...It’s a Global Necessity.

Antimicrobial Resistance, Emerging Infections, and the Urgent Need for Integrated Health Governance

The next major public health challenge may not begin in a hospital. It may emerge at the intersection of human, animal, and environmental health. Are our policies ready?

In an increasingly interconnected world, health threats rarely remain confined to one species, sector, or geographical boundary. Emerging infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), food safety risks, and environmental pressures demonstrate how closely human, animal, and ecosystem health are linked.

Yet, despite growing international recognition of the One Health approach, translating this shared vision into coordinated, measurable action remains a significant policy challenge.

One Health is not simply a scientific concept. It is a framework for improving how we anticipate risks, generate evidence, coordinate responses, and make decisions across sectors.

Why One Health Must Become a Policy Priority

Antimicrobial resistance illustrates the urgency of this transition. Resistant bacteria and resistance determinants can circulate among humans, animals, food systems, and the environment. Addressing AMR therefore requires more than responsible antimicrobial use within individual sectors.

It requires coordinated surveillance, reliable laboratory diagnostics, molecular epidemiology, responsible antimicrobial stewardship, and stronger links between scientific evidence and public policy.

Equally important, surveillance data must be interpreted within their epidemiological context. Molecular typing and whole-genome sequencing can help identify related bacterial isolates and investigate potential transmission pathways. However, genomic similarity alone cannot establish the direction or source of transmission. Effective One Health investigations must combine laboratory findings with epidemiological, clinical, veterinary, and environmental evidence.

This is where scientific expertise and sound governance must work together.

From Fragmented Surveillance to Integrated Action

A sustainable One Health system requires more than separate surveillance programmes operating in parallel. It requires mechanisms that allow relevant information to be shared, interpreted, and translated into timely action.

Three priorities deserve particular attention:

1)Build interoperable surveillance systems. Human health, veterinary, food safety, and environmental authorities should strengthen data-sharing mechanisms, harmonise relevant surveillance approaches, and establish clear procedures for identifying and communicating emerging threats.

2)Invest in laboratory capacity and epidemiological intelligence. Advanced diagnostics, bacterial characterisation, genomic surveillance, and well-trained scientific teams can strengthen early detection and outbreak investigation. Their value increases when laboratory evidence is connected to field epidemiology and coordinated decision-making.

3)Measure implementation, not just commitment. One Health strategies should include clear responsibilities, sustainable funding, measurable indicators, and regular evaluation. Progress should be assessed through outcomes such as improved detection, timely information exchange, coordinated outbreak responses, and more 

responsible antimicrobial use.

A Strategic Opportunity for the Gulf Region

For Gulf countries, One Health offers an opportunity to strengthen health security through regional collaboration, investment in advanced laboratory infrastructure, and closer coordination between public health, veterinary, food safety, and environmental institutions.

International connectivity, cross-border movement, and the importance of resilient food systems make preparedness and early detection particularly valuable. Regional cooperation can help transform individual national capabilities into a stronger collective response to emerging threats.

The opportunity is not merely to adopt international frameworks, but to help shape practical models of implementation supported by scientific evidence, effective governance, and measurable outcomes.

The Way Forward

The One Health Joint Plan of Action 2022–2026, developed by the Quadripartite organisations FAO, UNEP, WHO, and WOAH provides an important international framework for advancing this approach.

The next step is to ensure that the principles of One Health are reflected in everyday decisions: how surveillance systems are designed, how research priorities are funded, how laboratories collaborate, and how policymakers respond to evidence.

The real measure of success will not be how frequently we use the term “One Health,” but whether our policies enable us to detect threats earlier, prevent avoidable transmission, use antimicrobials responsibly, and protect the health of people, animals, and ecosystems together.

One Health must move beyond shared language to shared responsibility and from policy ambition to measurable impact.