The African Union One Health Data Alliance Africa Project (AU-OHDAA) is a two-year initiative by AU-IBAR to enhance digitalized One Health governance and management in Africa, building on previous work on One Health that AU-IBAR has undertaken in the past with partners and in alignment with key continental policy frameworks. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is providing funding for this initiative, which is being implemented by the German Cooperation and Development Agency (GIZ). The overarching goal of the African Union's One Health Data Alliance Africa Project for Africa is to enhance digital one health data and governance across the continent of Africa by creating a continental one health information policy, architecture, and maintenance model, as well as by strengthening technical and infrastructural capacities and launching a digital platform for the continent.

Project Background

Africa bears a heavy burden of emerging, re-emerging, and endemic diseases that impact Public Health, animal resources, livelihoods, food and nutrition security, and economic growth. Available evidence indicates that most of the emerging diseases have an animal origin with 75% of them classified as zoonosis. A 63% jump in diseases spread from animals to people in Africa has been seen in the last decade1. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and food safety are other important concerns for the continent. A comprehensive multidisciplinary approach referred to as One Health (OH) offers an opportunity to optimize the health of animals, humans, and the environment. The OH approach is contingent on a strong unified drive towards sharing information, Knowledge, and experiences on all three One Health domains (Animal Health, Human Health, and Environmental Health) in close collaboration with the community. Presently One Health data has largely remained underutilized, under-analyzed, and under-disseminated in respective sector silos and has slowed the pace of creating information and digital intelligence through data science-based algorithms or machine learning thereby affecting evidence-based decision-making. Moreover, the lack of utilization of a whole-community approach in the management of zoonoses and the lack of harmonization and integration of data platforms in the one health sphere has resulted in loss of information, lack of information and ultimately to poor detection, identification of drivers, and risks, socio-economic and gender impacts, determination of trends and inability to make predictions leading to poor prevention, prepared and response to zoonoses i.e Poor One Health governance and management.

Implementing Partners

Project Outcomes

The AU-OHDAA Project has three primary outcomes that will be achieved jointly with various African Union institutions and other stakeholders.

Outcome 1: Endorsement of a One Health information Architecture and Policy;
Outcome 2: Operationalization of technological and institutional prerequisites for digitalized One Health governance and management; and;
Outcome 3: Establishment of a basis for qualifying African specialists in the construction, operation, and maintenance of One Health information platforms providing information processing services.

Project Objectives

Overall impact:

Outcomes and Objectives

The overall objective is to promote Digitalized One Health governance and management in Africa.

Strategic Objective 1: Continental One health information policy and one health information architecture developed and endorsed. AU-OHDAA aims at developing a One Health information policy (OH IP) and an associated One Health information architecture (OH IA) that will guide One Health data harmonization, integration and utilization across the multi-stakeholder. 

Strategic objective 2: Technological and institutional prerequisites for digitalized One Health governance and management operationalized. AU-OHDAA will establish and operationalize an Africa Union One Health Digital Platform founded on the key features of the endorsed One Health architecture namely Data Standards; Data Security and Privacy: Data Interoperability: Data Scalability; Data Analytics; Data Governance and Feedback loop.

Strategic Objective 3: Foundations for qualifying African specialists in building, operating and maintaining One Health information platforms developed. AU-OHDAA will develop competency profiles and associated qualification materials for qualifying African specialists and operationalize an Africa Union E-training portal for OH competencies and assessment operationalized. 
 

Project Stakeholders

The Project benefits several stakeholders by realizing the following impacts: 

  • Veterinarians and Animal Health Workers: Better tools for surveillance, diagnostics, and disease control; evidence-based decision support; enhanced knowledge sharing across Africa’s veterinarian community.
  • Farmers and Agribusinesses: Improved productivity and animal health through early outbreak warning; data-driven planning and supply chain management; access to veterinary expertise.
  • Policy Makers: Integrated predictive analytics for scenario planning; holistic insights spanning animal, human, and ecosystem health to guide cross-sectoral strategies and investment alignment.
  • Researchers: Rich integrated data resources to conduct studies and close evidence gaps across One Health domains; findings can further refine policies and systems.
  • Vulnerable communities – Women, youth, and pastoralists Reduced risk from zoonotic diseases and food insecurity; livelihood protection; increased understanding of human-animal links.
     

Implementation arrangements

AU-IBAR works closely with the 55 African Member States, 8 Regional Economic Communities (RECs), African Union African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Tripartite Secretariat (FAO/OIE/WHO/UNEP), World Organization of Animal Health (WOAH), One Health Regional Networks and platforms; The OH Research, Education and Outreach Centre in Africa (OHRECA), Africa One Health University Network (AFROHUN), African One Health Network (AfOHnet) amongst others.

Project Management

The Project Implementing are:

  • African Union-InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR)
  • Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

Project Activities

The Project engages in many actions to achieve its three primary outcomes, which are informed through the use of this website. Please make it a point to visit us regularly.  

Complementary activities

Access its Calendar of Events on its engagement platform to discover a vibrant tapestry of enriching experiences and articles around issues of OneHealth that are implemented through this Project and those of other partners. From insightful workshops and engaging seminars to thought-provoking discussions, our calendar is a testament to our commitment to fostering growth, learning, and community engagement on issues surrounding OneHealth Data.