The 4th Quadripartite Executive Annual Meeting in Lyon was attended by (left to right) FAO Director-General QU Dongyu; Emmanuelle Soubeyran, Director General of the WOAH; Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director; and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (©FAO/Mark Henley)

The  Director‑General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),  QU Dongyu called for accelerated action to advance the One Health agenda, warning that persistent capacity gaps and insufficient sustainable financing continue to undermine progress.

Qu delivered opening remarks at the fourth executive meeting of the Quadripartite - an agreement between FAO, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), designed to strengthen cooperation to sustainably balance and optimize the health of humans, animals, plants and the environment.

The agreement is underpinned by the One Health  approach that seeks to mobilize multiple sectors, disciplines and communities to work together to foster well-being and tackle threats to health and ecosystems, while addressing the collective need for clean water, energy and air, safe and nutritious food.

In his address to the meeting in Lyon, the FAO Director‑General praised the partnership’s essential work and the progress made in strengthening cooperation to implement the One Health Joint Plan of Action over recent years.

However, Qu noted that implementation remains uneven.

"This meeting is not only about taking stock - it is about accelerating action," Qu said. "We need to expand and scale One Health implementation at country and community level. We need to work collectively, bringing together our individual comparative advantages, in line with our connected yet distinct mandates."

To ensure that One Health is technically sound, economically compelling, inclusive, and politically persuasive, the Director‑General stressed the need to strengthen the One Health Knowledge Nexus. He also called for enhanced communities of practice on governance, stronger evidence on return on investment, and expanded joint scientific initiatives.

FAO is advancing and promoting the One Health approach across agrifood systems and remains committed to supporting Members in transforming those systems. The objective is to make agrifood systems more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient, and more sustainable, contributing to the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life - leaving no one behind.

See: https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/fao-director-general-calls-for-accelerated-action-on-one-health-agenda/en