UNEP joins One health alliance.

Why in news?

• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has signed the Memorandum of understanding with the tripartite partnership for One Health, bringing together the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), formally the Quadripartite partnership at its annual executive meeting held on 18 March 2022 at Nairobi, Kenya.
• The UNEP will offer the expertise required to tackle the ecological dimension of human and animal health.
• The Quadripartite alliance will now focus on a One Health Joint Plan of Action, which includes six action tracks. They are
• Enhancing countries’ capacity to strengthen health systems under a One Health approach.
• Reducing the risks from emerging or resurfacing zoonotic epidemics and pandemics.
• Controlling and eliminating endemic – zoonotic diseases, neglected tropical diseases and vector-borne diseases.
• Strengthening the assessment, management and communication of food safety risks.
• Curbing the silent pandemic of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).
• Better integrating the environment into the One Health approach.

About One Health:

• The One Health approach aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals, ecosystems and the wider environment.
• It mobilises multiple sectors, disciplines and communities to work together to foster well-being and tackle threats to health and ecosystems.
• It also addresses the collective need for clean energy, water and air, safe and nutritious food, action on climate change, and contributing to sustainable development.

About United Nation Environment Program (UNEP)

• The United Nation Environment Program was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm on 5th June 1972.
• Headquarters are located in Nairobi, Kenya.