Operationalising One Health: The role of economics in supporting One Health initiatives
World One Health Day was celebrated on 3 November, now is an excellent time to reflect on the opportunities available to support One Health initiatives.
The concept of One Health, an integrated approach to the health of people, animals and the ecosystem, is well-developed and the technical know-how is available. A significant gap remains in transitioning from technical knowledge to practical, operational projects.
Economics plays an important role in the delayed action. At the core of One Health's implementation challenges is the need for effective collaboration across diverse sectors. Each sector (e.g., animal, human, or environmental health) operates within its unique system, often leading to siloed approaches from each sector. Economics offers practical solutions to tear down these siloes by identifying the optimal level of inter-sectoral cooperation. Determining optimal levels of cooperation supports improved health outcomes by efficiently leveraging the collective strengths of each sector.
The equitable distribution of costs and benefits among the different One Health sectors is critical. Multi-sectoral One Health initiatives can fail to launch because of the difficulty of cost allocation and benefit sharing across sectors, leading to unequal burdens and unsustainable projects. Economics provides a framework for equitable distribution, ensuring that all parties involved shoulder a fair share of the costs while equitably sharing the benefits. This balance is vital for the long-term success and acceptance of One Health initiatives.
Economics is the necessary bridge between One Health sectors and funding agencies. By constructing compelling business cases, economics more clearly expresses the benefits of One Health projects to partners, governments, and potential donors. It is a universal language which effectively highlights the significance and practicality of these projects, making it easier to secure the essential funding needed to start and sustain important One Health initiatives. Nossal has been working to advanced this agenda through capacity building projects such as SPARK, our Collaboration on One Health Economics Research for Systems (COHERES) applied research and our partnerships with ADB and World Bank.
As the popularity of One Health increases, the importance of economics in advancing these initiatives will also grow. Economics will continue to play a crucial role in taking One Health initiatives from theoretical concepts to sustainable, operational realities. Our challenge is to build this community of practice by continuing to expose One Health partners to economics while concurrently attracting more economists to work in this space.
Dr Justin McKinley is a Research Fellow at the Nossal Institute for Global Health. He is an economist with a background in agricultural, development, and environmental economics. Justin’s research focuses on One Health Economics.