National One Health Strategic Plan

Objectives

The National One Health Strategic Plan 2022–2027 provides Tanzania’s whole-of-government framework for achieving optimal health for people, domestic animals, wildlife, plants and the environment through multidisciplinary collaboration.[1][2]Its vision is a nation that achieves optimal health through collaboration at local, national, regional and global levels, while its mission is to improve the well-being of the United Republic of Tanzania by advancing national One Health priorities.[3]The strategic objective is to establish functional, quality and integrated human, animal and environmental health systems that reduce health threats at every level.[3]

• Strengthen and institutionalise coordination across human, animal, wildlife, plant and environmental health sectors, treating zoonosis prevention and control as a national public good and using existing institutions sustainably.[4][3]
• Prevent, predict, detect and respond to zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, biological risks, food-safety threats, environmental hazards and other emerging or re-emerging public health threats.[1][5]
• Implement six strategic pillars: coordination; surveillance, detection, prevention and control; preparedness and response; research and development; awareness, advocacy and communication; and training and education.[6]
• Prioritise zoonotic threats including rabies, Rift Valley fever, viral haemorrhagic fevers such as Marburg and Ebola, zoonotic influenza, anthrax, human African trypanosomiasis, brucellosis and COVID-19.[7]
• Improve antimicrobial-resistance awareness, surveillance, research, infection prevention, appropriate antimicrobial use and sustainable investment in medicines, diagnostics, vaccines and other interventions.[8]
• Strengthen food safety, environmental health, safe water, sanitation, waste disposal and climate-sensitive disease preparedness through coordinated One Health action.[9]
• Establish a functional, high-quality joint surveillance system for prioritised zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance and other public health threats across national, zonal or regional, district and community levels.[10][11]
• Increase detection capacity for prioritised zoonotic diseases and related threats to 100% at national level, 60% at zonal or regional level and 30% at district level.[12]
• Strengthen multisectoral preparedness and response frameworks, including biosafety, biosecurity, emergency simulation and operational capacity at subnational level.[13][14]
• Increase the volume and quality of One Health research, align institutional research agendas, promote collaborative research, establish research forums and deploy relevant technologies and innovations.[15][16][17]
• Enhance public, professional and policymaker awareness through advocacy guidance, a toolkit, a communication strategy, media engagement, community campaigns and One Health-related commemoration days.[18][19][20]
• Build One Health knowledge and practice through integrated pre-service and in-service training, revised curricula, continuing professional development, student innovation clubs and a data and information-sharing system.[21][22][23]

Implementation

Implementation uses a multisectoral and transdisciplinary delivery model linking government, local authorities, communities, academic and research institutions, civil society, development partners and the private sector.[1][5]The Prime Minister’s Office, Disaster Management Division, through the One Health Section or Secretariat, coordinates One Health activities, facilitates intersectoral collaboration and serves as secretariat to the National Disaster Risk Management Technical Committee.[5]Coordination is aligned with the Disaster Risk Management Framework and extends through multisectoral technical committees from national to regional, district, ward and village or street levels.[5]

• Coordinate core ministries responsible for health, livestock and fisheries, natural resources and tourism, environment, agriculture, and education, science and technology, alongside regional and local government authorities.[6][11]
• Strengthen Technical Working Groups, establish and appoint their members, develop terms of reference, convene quarterly meetings and hold biannual multisectoral technical-team meetings at national, regional and district levels by 2027.[4]
• Engage the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, wildlife institutions, laboratories, universities, research institutes, professional bodies, media, non-governmental organisations, faith-based organisations and community-based organisations.[5][24]
• Develop and operationalise a Resource Mobilisation Strategy, convene biannual meetings with stakeholders and implementing partners, organise mobilisation events and prepare fundable programmes and project proposals.[25][26]
• Develop surveillance guidelines, standard operating procedures and manuals; train public-health, animal-health, laboratory and One Health personnel; establish joint databases; and strengthen cross-border information sharing, risk communication and community engagement.[10][27]
• Undertake joint risk assessments, supportive supervision, participatory epidemiology, quarterly surveillance meetings and vaccination control activities for priority zoonotic diseases.[28][29]
• Strengthen laboratory systems through needs assessments, equipment and reagent procurement, staff training, multisectoral diagnostic committees, laboratory networks, proficiency testing and inter-laboratory comparisons.[12][30]
• Review and validate multisectoral preparedness and response frameworks, print 3,000 copies, disseminate them nationally and subnationally, and conduct one joint table-top and one joint field simulation exercise annually.[30][31]
• Strengthen regional emergency operations centres through plans, standard operating procedures, supportive supervision, human-resource needs assessments, personnel recruitment and orientation of focal points and responders.[32][14]
• Support research through stakeholder mapping, research-priority technical working groups, a national research agenda, resource inventories, collaborative proposals, research groups and a registered One Health research forum.[15][16]
• Deliver training through annual engagement with education institutions and regulatory bodies, curriculum review, training-of-trainers, pre-service and in-service courses, student simulations and innovation clubs.[21][22][23]

The plan includes a results framework, annual action plan, indicators, targets and means of verification for strategic-pillar activities.[6][33]Monitoring is intended to use continuous data collection and quarterly indicator tracking, supported by implementation reports prepared weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually or on demand.[34]Internal and external reporting includes external activity and financial reports produced quarterly, semi-annually and annually for relevant stakeholders.[34]Four annual reviews, a mid-term evaluation in the third year and a terminal evaluation after closeout will assess progress, effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, sustainability and impact.[34][35]

Financing is expected to draw on government, development partners and the private sector, but the source does not provide a consolidated total budget, confirmed funding sources, quantified financing gap or economic assumptions.[26][36]

Monitoring & Evaluation

The plan establishes a results-based monitoring and evaluation system spanning six strategic pillars, with indicators, targets, means of verification, analysis methods, reporting frequencies and designated officers for data collection, analysis and reporting.[6][3][37][38]Monitoring is intended to provide continuous evidence on implementation progress, identify deviations from plans and enable timely corrective action.[38]

• Monitor coordination through establishment and functioning of Technical Working Groups, appointments, meetings, terms of reference, capacity-building workshops and training reports.[4][25]
• Track resource mobilisation through the Resource Mobilisation Strategy, mobilisation events, fundable programmes and projects, financial records, and the number of funded activities.[25]
• Measure networking through national platform meetings, focal-person meetings from village to ministry level, and participation in local and international One Health consortia.[10]
• Strengthen integrated indicator-based, event-based and community-based surveillance for priority zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance and other public health threats across national, regional, district and community levels.[39][11]
• Monitor surveillance quality through data shared between sectors, quarterly data-sharing meetings, use of data for decision-making, supervision reports, guidelines, standard operating procedures, manuals, trained personnel and joint databases.[10][28][27][40]
• Track prevention and control through vaccination coverage, doses procured, animals vaccinated, sensitised wards and villages, and pre- and post-vaccination monitoring.[29]
• Assess laboratory capacity through needs assessments, equipment, reagents and consumables procured, personnel trained, laboratory networks, diagnostics committees, proficiency tests and inter-laboratory comparisons.[12][30]
• Use annual table-top and field simulations, annual preparedness-plan updates and supportive supervision to test and improve multisectoral emergency preparedness and response.[32][31]
• Monitor research, training, advocacy and communication through output indicators such as research agendas, collaborative proposals, research forums, technologies deployed, curricula revised, trainees reached, communication materials disseminated and awareness events conducted.[15][16][17][41][21][22][23]

Existing surveillance and reporting arrangements include Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response for 33 notifiable diseases, with immediate or weekly reporting; animal disease reports using weekly reports and the Event Mobile Application System; and wildlife, plant-health and laboratory reporting channels.[2][24][42][43][44]The Directorate of Veterinary Services reports notifiable diseases to the Prime Minister’s Office, the World Organisation for Animal Health, the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community.[24]

Accountability is supported by the Prime Minister’s Office One Health Section or Secretariat, national and subnational multisectoral committees, technical working groups, the One Health Coordination Desk, and the National Disaster Risk Management Technical Committee.[45][5][35]The plan provides for four annual reviews, a mid-term evaluation in year three and a terminal evaluation after closeout, assessing effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, sustainability and impact.[34][35]Internal reports are planned weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually or on demand, while external activity and financial reports are planned quarterly, semi-annually and annually.[34][35]The document does not consistently specify consolidated baselines, indicator definitions, evaluation methodologies or accountability consequences for all pillars.[4][25][10][38]

Costing & Financing

Financing relies on government, development partners and private-sector contributions, supported by a planned Resource Mobilisation Strategy, biannual stakeholder mobilisation meetings, funding events, concept notes and development of fundable One Health programmes and projects.[25][10][26]The One Health Section is also mandated to guide resource mobilisation for prevention, preparedness, response and mitigation of public health threats.[5]

• Allocate resources to coordination, capacity building, national and subnational meetings, consortia networking, joint surveillance, laboratory strengthening, preparedness frameworks, simulations, research, communication and training materials.[26][36][11][30][31][46][47]
• Develop budgets and mobilise resources for teaching facilitation guides, One Health books, a manual and seven compendia for pre-service and in-service personnel.[33][48]
• Increase financial support for proposed One Health plans across sectors, including support for One Health research and programmes.[40][38]
• Address resource constraints including inadequate human and financial resources, dependence on external financing, donor-dependent implementation and competing sectoral priorities.[49][50][51][52][53]

Action-plan tables contain activity-level budget estimates, although currencies, funding commitments and consolidated totals are generally not specified.[35][26][36][11][30][31]The explicit estimates range from 5,000,000 to 630,000,000, without a stated currency.[26][36][11][31]Budget estimate entries of 20,000,000 and 400,000,000 are included in the annual action plan, but the available table context does not assign them to specific activities or years.[35]

The plan identifies a need to develop an economic case for sustainable investment in medicines, diagnostics, vaccines and other interventions, and calls for greater investment in environmental health, potable water, waste disposal and sanitation.[8][9]It does not specify an overall costed implementation framework, financing gap, expenditure ceiling, economic assumptions, exchange rates or currency for the listed budget lines.[33][48][40][30][31]