From Resolution to Resilience: Making One Health Work in the Conflict-Affected Eastern Mediterranean

This article examines the challenges and future of One Health Implementation in the conflict-affected Eastern Mediterranean Region, where health threats are further compounded by armed conflict, forced displacement, antimicrobial resistance, and climate change. 

It highlights opportunities for global and regional policymaking, including the amended International Health Regulations, the WHO Pandemic Agreement, and a regional resolution on One Health governance and health systems strengthening and recovery. Gaps are identified in institutional coordination, surveillance and laboratory networks, legal infrastructure and sustainable financing, and national One Health strategies have been developed. 

A framework for a coherent multisectoral approach is proposed based on six interconnected, sequential functions in which health systems can be further advanced: Understand; Protect; Connect; Detect; Adapt; and Recover and Build Resilience. Three priorities are proposed based on their feasibility and inclusiveness: protect essential integrated One Health services; establish resilient, community-based disease surveillance; and ensure sustainable domestic financing. The experience of Somalia illustrates the need for institutionalised governance structures, financial sustainability, integrated intelligence, human capital, and community empowerment.

From Resolution to Resilience: Making One Health Work in the Conflict-Affected Eastern Mediterranean