Meanings and mechanisms of One Health partnerships: insights from a critical review of literature on cross-government collaborations

Abstract

Complex health policy challenges such as antimicrobial resistance and other emerging infections are driven by activities in multiple sectors. Therefore, addressing these also requires joint efforts from multiple sectors as exemplified in the One Health approach. We undertake a critical review to examine the different ways in which multisector partnerships have been conceptualized across multiple disciplines and thematic areas. We started with a set of six articles from the disciplines of health, nutrition and public administration that reviewed conceptual frameworks within their respective fields. We conducted backward citation tracing using the bibliography of the six articles to identify other articles in the same and related fields that conceptualized multisector partnerships. We identified 58 articles published from 1967 to 2018 from the fields of global health, infectious diseases, management, nutrition and sustainability sciences indicating that multisector partnerships have been a topic of study across different fields for several decades. A thematic analysis of the 58 articles revealed that multisector partnerships assume a variety of forms and have been described in different ways. Partnerships can be categorized by scope, scale, formality and strength. Multisector partnerships emerge in conditions of dynamic uncertainty and sector failure when the information and resources required are beyond the capacities of any individual sector. Such partnerships are inherently political in nature and subsume multiple competing agendas of collaborating actors. Sustaining collaborations over a long period of time will require collaborative approaches like One Health to accommodate competing political perspectives and include flexibility to allow multisector partnerships to respond to changing external dynamics.

Editorial

“…Removing barriers between and among disciplines to promote mutual cooperation and effective sharing of resources, expertise and skills are essential (Jerolmack, 2013). Collaborative approaches should aim to manage rather than eliminate differences between individuals or communities (Abbas et al, 2022), but historical, institutional and professional silos are often responsible for a lack of genuine horizontal cooperation (Chiesa et al, 2021;Soublis Smyth, 2017;Islam et al, 2020). Meaning, for many, a paradigm shift in governance is required to operationalise One Health.…”

“…• For example: − Language: Sectoral, institutional and disciplinary cultures generate communication gaps through different ways of conceptualising problems, approaches and methods, as well as terminology (Barnett et al, 2020;Buschhardt et al, 2021); − Gender and culture: Gender and cultural differences in political, governance and knowledge systems (e.g., social sciences vs natural sciences) generate complexity in the encoding and decoding of messages, as well as inequities in power, including who is allowed to speak and be listened to (Garnier et al, 2020;Brandão et al, 2021); − Perceptional: Different value and belief systems, experiences and backgrounds create differing perceptions that may hinder communication and restrict One Health progress due to ensuing gradients of power, hierarchy and status (Abbas et al, 2022); • Consequently, a One Health competent person will require awareness of these barriers and the skills (e.g. public speaking, cultural and gender awareness, listening and media training) to overcome them for effective communication.…”

“…• The innate nature of One Health interdisciplinary approaches means we should facilitate personnel and skills from various institutions and backgrounds (Bordier et al, 2019;Errecaborde et al, 2019). Abbas et al (2022) explain how the resultant collaborations should aim to manage rather than eliminate these differences. This enables each collaborator to choose the form of collaboration that is most relevant to their requirements and it is important that we respect the prerogatives of various collaborators in this regard.…”

“…• Given the dynamic nature of many One Health challenges, it is important that approaches chosen have adaptive capacities in order to remain effective and resilient (Abbas et al, 2022). There is a body of literature that indicates that increased adaptive capacity, combined with collaborative governance results in a greater resilience (Duit et al, 2010).…”

Embed Multisectoral Governance Mechanisms in the Pandemic Instrument for One Health Action

“…Various global functions that must be improved or consolidated to strengthen pandemic governance, and that could fall within the scope of a One Health mechanism have been identified elsewhere, among those are: regulatory obligations around activities and places, integrating and sharing surveillance, bridging the science to policy interface, strengthening monitoring and investigative powers, ensuring compliance and accountability, and enabling support and capacity-building. 22 Finally, a successful One Health mechanism's features and design will embody principles of good governance such as equity, legitimacy, credibility, and transparency, both as ideals in themselves, and as means to sustained collaboration 23 and more effective policy responses.…”