WHO - World Health Organization
WHO - World Health Organization
04/17/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/17/2024 12:55
The Quadripartite organizations announce the second Term members of its One Health High-Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP)
Following a public call for experts, the Quadripartite organizations today announced the Members of the One Health High-Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP) for Term II.
The One Health High-Level Expert Panel is the scientific and strategic advisory group to the Quadripartite organizations - the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) - in their collaboration on One Health.
"The One Health High-Level Expert Panel plays a crucial role in advising the Quadripartite to advance the One Health approach in a rapidly changing and complex world, including providing evidence-based policy advice, placing countries at the centre with a focus on effective implementation and innovative solutions," said Dr Ailan Li, WHO Assistant Director General, Division of Healthier Population.
Following the launch of the One Health Joint Plan of Action and its implementation guide the Quadripartite collaboration has prioritized support to countries in its rollout. In this regard, the Terms of Reference for OHHLEP were revised and a Call for Experts was issued for Term II with a vision to augment the panel to provide advisory across all action tracks of the OH JPA and utilizing the three pathways to change.
After careful consideration of all applications submitted to the Quadripartite, 29 individuals have been appointed as OHHLEP members, with expertise in a range of areas including, but not limited to the following:
Intersectoral governance and systems approaches, political science, international law; economics and finance; social and behavioural sciences, anthropology, ethics and gender studies; health systems policy and practice, pandemic prevention and preparedness; environmental, forestry, biodiversity, agriculture, and ecosystem sciences; food systems and their interlinkages with health; emerging pandemic threats, infectious disease epidemiology, informatics, modelling, prediction and foresight relevant to assessing impacts of environmental and other changes in emerging diseases and health. The composition of the OHHLEP aims to reflect geographic and gender diversity.
Following a two-week public consultation period for WHO and its Quadripartite partners to receive feedback on the proposed OHHLEP members, the first full panel meeting of OHHLEP's second Term is taking place from 16 to 17 April 2024. The meeting report will be available online shortly.
Functions of the OHHLEP
The OHHLEP will have the following functions:
- providing the Quadripartite with guidance on implementation of the One Health Joint Plan of Action by informing the development of evidence-based One Health policies, tools and metrics to support implementation and measurement, and through the identification of One Health research gaps;
- providing the Quadripartite with policy relevant scientific assessment on the drivers of emergence and re-emergence of health threats at the human-animal-ecosystem interface;
- providing the Quadripartite with recommendations on specific issues identified by the Quadripartite in the areas of highest concern for attention, action, and future direction in One Health.