National One Health Strategic Plan

Objectives

Tanzania’s National One Health Strategic Plan 2022–2027 provides a whole-of-government framework to achieve optimal health for people, animals and the environment through collaboration across local, national, regional and global levels. Its mission is to improve the wellbeing of the United Republic of Tanzania by promoting collaboration on national One Health priorities, with the principal objective of establishing functional, high-quality integrated human, animal and environmental health systems that reduce health threats at all levels.[1]

• Prevent, predict, detect and respond to zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, food-safety hazards, biosafety and biosecurity risks, environmental health threats, climate-sensitive disease and other emerging or re-emerging public health threats at the human-animal-plant-environment interface.[2][3][4]
• Prioritise coordinated action on rabies, Rift Valley fever, Marburg and Ebola, zoonotic influenza, anthrax, human African trypanosomiasis, brucellosis and COVID-19, alongside wider zoonotic and infectious disease risks.[5][6]
• Organise implementation around six pillars: coordination; surveillance, detection, prevention and control; preparedness and response; research and development; awareness, advocacy and communication; and training and education.[7][8]
• Strengthen national capacity for joint surveillance, laboratory diagnosis, prevention, control, emergency response, research, communication and workforce development, contributing to public health, food safety and security, livelihoods and economic wellbeing.[2][9][10]
• Apply guiding values of collaboration, adaptability, excellence, teamwork, transparency and resilience, supported by preventive, multidisciplinary, science-based and culturally respectful practice.[1]
• Implement antimicrobial resistance action through awareness and training, surveillance and research, infection prevention and control, optimised antimicrobial use, and investment in medicines, diagnostics, vaccines and other interventions.[11]

Implementation

The plan adopts a multisectoral, transdisciplinary delivery model based on sustained coordination, communication and collaboration among human, animal, wildlife, plant and environmental health disciplines.[2][8]Coordination is led through the One Health Section in the Prime Minister’s Office Disaster Management Division, with functions linked to the Disaster Management Act No. 6 of 2022 and disaster-risk-management structures from national to local level.[12][13]

• Coordinate activity through a One Health coordinating desk, Technical Working Groups, national multi-technical working groups, and multisectoral technical teams at national, regional, district, ward and village or street levels.[12][14]
• Engage the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Vice-President’s Office responsible for the environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, local government, communities, private-sector organisations, civil society, faith-based organisations, media, development partners, universities and research institutions.[7][12][9]
• Use stakeholder mapping to identify relevant actors, their relationships with the One Health Section, and their resource and non-resource influence, thereby informing engagement and communication planning.[15]
• Convene quarterly Technical Working Group and One Health focal-person meetings, biannual multisectoral technical meetings, joint risk assessments, surveillance meetings and cross-border surveillance committees.[14][16][17]
• Strengthen surveillance through the International Health Regulations (2005), the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response framework, community-based reporting, mobile reporting tools, shared databases and information exchange between animal and human health surveillance units.[18][19][9]
• Improve laboratory and biorisk capacity through needs assessments, procurement of equipment, reagents and consumables, workforce training, standard operating procedures, laboratory networks, quality-management systems, proficiency testing, biosafety assessments and biosecurity measures.[20][21]
• Operationalise preparedness and response by reviewing multisectoral frameworks, establishing regional Emergency Operations Centre arrangements, mapping and orienting focal persons, conducting annual table-top and field simulation exercises, updating plans from exercise findings and providing supportive supervision.[22][23][24]
• Develop research priorities and a national research agenda, align institutional agendas, inventory research resources, establish research groups and forums, promote collaborative proposals, and identify and roll out relevant technologies and innovations.[25][26][27][28]
• Increase public and stakeholder awareness through advocacy guidelines, toolkits, a communication strategy, information, education and communication materials, commemoration activities, media engagement and community sensitisation.[29][30]
• Build workforce and institutional capacity through curriculum review, training of trainers, pre-service and in-service training, continuing professional development courses, Regional One Health Chapters and a One Health data and information web portal.[31][32][33]
• Monitor implementation through quarterly indicator tracking, with indicators, targets, analytical methods, reporting frequencies and responsible officers specified in the monitoring plan; undertake a mid-term evaluation in year three and a terminal evaluation after plan closeout.[34]
• Use internal reports produced weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually or on demand, and submit external implementation, activity and financial reports quarterly, semi-annually or annually to line ministries, the Ministry of Finance and Planning, development partners and Parliament.[35]
• Mobilise resources from government, development partners and the private sector through a resource mobilisation strategy, project concept notes and stakeholder mobilisation events; the supplied material does not provide a consolidated total budget or financing gap.[14][36][37]

Monitoring & Evaluation

The plan establishes a results-based monitoring and evaluation system linking objectives, targets, activities and inputs, with continuous data collection and analysis intended to identify implementation deviations and enable corrective action. Indicator tracking is planned quarterly, and the monitoring plan includes indicator definitions, targets, analytical methods, reporting frequencies and responsible officers.[10][34]

• Monitor coordination through the establishment of Technical Working Groups, appointment and training of members, quarterly meetings, multisectoral technical meetings, meeting minutes, nomination letters and terms of reference.[14][35][38]
• Track surveillance and response through joint risk assessments, quarterly and cross-border surveillance meetings, shared surveillance and laboratory reports, community reporting, supportive supervision, participatory epidemiology and pre- and post-vaccination monitoring.[16][17][39]
• Use Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response and the International Health Regulations (2005) to guide detection, preparedness and response, including immediate or weekly reporting for 33 notifiable diseases and reporting chains for animal and wildlife health events.[18][9][40]
• Assess laboratory performance through needs assessments, inventories, training reports, standard operating procedures, committee records, inter-laboratory comparisons, proficiency testing and biosafety and biosecurity checklists.[20][21]
• Measure preparedness through annual joint table-top and field simulation exercises, annual plan-update meetings, supervision reports and records of zonal and regional facilities visited.[22][24]
• Track research, communication and training using indicators on research agendas, collaborative proposals, forums, innovations, awareness materials, workshops, revised curricula, personnel trained, operational information systems and Regional One Health Chapters.[25][26][31][32][33][27][28]
• Report internally through weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual or on-demand section, division or management reports, and report externally through quarterly, semi-annual or annual implementation, activity and financial reports to line ministries, the Ministry of Finance and Planning, development partners and Parliament.[35]

Evaluation is intended to assess effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, sustainability and impact. Two evaluations are planned during the five-year period: a mid-term evaluation in year three and a terminal evaluation after closeout.[34]Four annual reviews are also planned to assess activities, outputs, outcomes, challenges and lessons learnt, with findings informing progress reports and adjustments.[35][38]

The framework includes performance expectations under International Health Regulations capacity assessment, including functional cross-sectoral coordination, timely data collection and laboratory access, community surveillance, information exchange, and response to more than 80% of relevant zoonotic events.[19]However, several extracts do not specify consolidated indicator definitions, target values, reporting responsibilities, an independent evaluation body or a single accountability mechanism spanning all strategic pillars.[1][16][10][34]

Costing & Financing

Financing is framed around prioritising limited resources, increasing financial support for One Health activities and research, and mobilising contributions from government, development partners and the private sector. The plan calls for a resource mobilisation strategy by 2027 and biannual stakeholder resource-mobilisation meetings.[1][14][36][37]

• Allocate resources for coordination, Technical Working Group establishment and meetings, training, surveillance, laboratories, emergency preparedness, research, communication and One Health learning materials.[38][36][24][41][42][27][28][43]
• Mobilise support for prevention, preparedness, response and mitigation through the One Health Section and multisectoral structures.[12]
• Address donor dependency, inadequate financial resources and limited funding for One Health research, which are identified as constraints to sustained implementation.[44][45][46][47][15]
• Develop an economic case for sustainable investment in antimicrobial resistance responses, including medicines, diagnostics, vaccines and other interventions.[11]

The action-plan extracts contain explicit budget estimates for selected activities, ranging from 10,000,000 to 630,000,000, but do not identify the currency, total plan cost, funding shares, financing commitments or economic assumptions.[38][36][24][41][42][27][28][43]Financial support from the Food and Agriculture Organization and Sandia National Laboratories Global Chemical and Biological Security Program supported review of the strategic plan, although the amount is not specified.[2]

No quantified overall funding gap is provided. Earlier disease-specific multisectoral committees reportedly became inactive when dedicated funding declined or ended, highlighting the importance of sustainable financing.[5]Tanzania’s wider economic context includes average gross domestic product growth of approximately 6.5% to 7% annually from 2016 to 2020, average annual inflation of 3.3%, and a Third Five-Year Development Plan growth target of at least 8% annually.[48]