Health and Biosecurity Governance
The Global Risks Forum (GRF)
Most emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals, and antimicrobial resistance spreads between people, animals and the environment. One Health is the approach that links human, animal, plant and environmental health governance so that threats are detected and prevented where they begin. This page sets out how One Health policy works and fails, the records that show it, and the institutions that decide.
GRF · In development · service level R0
One Health policy is the coordination of human, animal, plant and environmental health governance to prevent and detect shared threats such as zoonoses and antimicrobial resistance. It needs joint surveillance, mechanisms and budgets across ministries. Health, agriculture and environment ministries and veterinary services hold the decisions.
For one health policy, in GRF's situational-awareness reading, the map opens on population density and flood water with place names and borders from NASA GIBS, framed on Southern Africa; 4 further NASA layers wait in the list.
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NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
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For one health policy, in GRF's situational-awareness reading, the map opens on population density and flood water with place names and borders from NASA GIBS, framed on Southern Africa; 4 further NASA layers wait in the list.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date; indicators, not assessments of any place; claim ceiling INTEGRATED.
Layers and dates
The working screen behind this subject: its structure, terms and states. Names are placeholders and values illustrative.
One health policy · National IHR focal point · Event EV-8229
self-assessment score vs target
Cross-sector stewardship and coordination. The dossier below sets out how the risk develops, what is measured, where the data come from, how it is modelled and who decides.
Land-use change, wildlife trade and intensive livestock bring people and animals into closer contact. Pathogens cross where these interfaces are least monitored.
Health, agriculture and environment ministries have separate laws, budgets and surveillance systems. Without joint mechanisms, signals in animals do not reach human health authorities in time.
Antibiotic use in human medicine, livestock and aquaculture selects resistant bacteria that move between sectors through food, water and contact.
Preventing spillover produces no visible event, so it competes poorly for funds against response. Benefits fall across sectors that do not share budgets.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Zoonosis | An infectious disease that has jumped from an animal to people. |
| Spillover | The transmission of a pathogen from one host species, often wildlife or livestock, to another such as humans. |
| Antimicrobial resistance | The ability of microorganisms to survive medicines that once killed them or stopped their growth. |
Each indicator carries its unit, its cadence, the kind of source behind it and the evidence label a value would carry. No values are shown: a programme supplies them under its own authority.
| Indicator | Unit | Cadence | Source type | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National One Health coordination mechanism | yes or no, with mandate | on change | National records and Quadripartite tracking | DECLARED |
| Antimicrobial resistance national action plan status | categorical | annual | Tracking AMR Country Self-assessment Survey | DECLARED |
| Antimicrobial use in animals | milligrams per population correction unit | annual | WOAH ANIMUSE database | REPORTED |
| Zoonotic disease events reported | count | annual | WOAH WAHIS | OFFICIAL |
| Joint risk assessments across sectors | count | annual | National records | REPORTED |
| Resistance rates for priority pathogens | percent resistant isolates | annual | WHO GLASS | REPORTED |
The topic as a computational graph: named sources feed the methods, an evidence review gates the outputs, and the decisions stay with the authorities that hold them.
Fig. 02Nodes carry their type, two metric rows and a state; connectors show what feeds what; dashed frames name the owners; the timeline is the cadence. Design of the pipeline, not a record of a run.
Named public datasets and institutional records, each with its licence class. Sources by agreement are used only under their terms and never republished.
| Source | What it gives | Licence class |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking AMR Country Self-assessment Survey (TrACSS) | Country progress on AMR action plans | Free, Quadripartite terms |
| WOAH World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS) | Official animal disease reports | Free, WOAH terms |
| WOAH ANIMUSE | Antimicrobial use in animals by country | Free to read, WOAH terms |
| WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) | Resistance and use data in human health | Free, WHO terms |
| IPBES workshop report on biodiversity and pandemics | Assessment of links between nature loss and pandemic risk | Free, IPBES terms |
Health and Biosecurity Governance prepares evidence. The decisions below are taken by the authorities named, under their own rules, and never by the platform.
| Who decides | The question | Evidence this page serves |
|---|---|---|
| Health, agriculture and environment ministries | How to coordinate surveillance, planning and budgets | Mechanism designs and joint assessment practice |
| Veterinary services | How antimicrobial use in animals is regulated and monitored | Use data and comparable regulations |
| Wildlife and land-use authorities | How to reduce spillover risk at interfaces | Evidence on drivers and comparable measures |
| Quadripartite organizations' governing bodies | What joint priorities and support to provide | Country progress records |
The questions concern coordination without merging mandates.
Sectoral organization is the main obstacle. Each agency answers to its own minister and legislation and measures success differently. Coordination often depends on individuals and lapses when they move. Formal mechanisms, joint plans and shared data platforms make cooperation more durable.
International organizations covering human health, animal health, food and agriculture, and the environment have committed to joint One Health work, and many countries have national action plans, particularly on antimicrobial resistance. Implementation varies widely with resources and political priority.
| Method or data | What it shows | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Institutional mapping | Mandates and overlaps between agencies | Formal mandates do not show actual coordination |
| Policy and legal analysis | Instruments that require or enable coordination | Implementation may lag the text |
| Evaluation of national action plans | Progress against commitments | Indicators are often process rather than outcome |
| Network analysis of information flows | Who shares data with whom | Data on informal flows is scarce |
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.