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Zambia has strengthened joint health risk assessments, accelerated outbreak detection and response, and improved community engagement, Health Minister, Dr. Elijah Muchima, has said.
He noted that practical results had already been demonstrated in rabies control, anthrax response, aflatoxin mitigation, and climate-sensitive disease surveillance.
Muchima was speaking on Thursday during the regional One Health Conference for Eastern and Southern Africa in Lusaka, held at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre under the theme “Driving Coordinated Regional Action for One Health.”
He said the progress followed the establishment of a National One Health Steering Committee at Permanent Secretary level, along with a functional multisectoral National Technical Working Group on One Health.
Zambia has also created One Health coordination mechanisms in all ten provinces and 116 districts, supported by joint systems for zoonotic disease surveillance, antimicrobial resistance monitoring, climate-health surveillance, food safety and environmental risk management.
“Our experience confirms a critical lesson: One Health delivers results when embedded in governance structures, budgets, and operational systems, not when it exists only on paper,” Muchima said.
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He added that regional health security was “only as strong as its weakest link,” noting that no country, regardless of capacity, could secure itself in isolation.
Muchima said the risk landscape across Eastern and Southern Africa was shifting rapidly, with climate change intensifying floods, droughts and heat extremes.
“Population growth, urbanization, and land-use change are increasing interactions between humans, livestock, wildlife, and ecosystems. Trade, travel, and migration continue to expand across porous borders,” he stated.
He said these dynamics were reshaping disease epidemiology, resulting in more frequent zoonotic outbreaks, rising antimicrobial resistance, persistent food safety threats and a growing burden of climate-sensitive diseases such as cholera and vector-borne illnesses.
The minister stressed that the challenges do not respect borders or bureaucratic divisions.
“When we respond in fragmented ways, we detect outbreaks late, spend more, and achieve less. When we act collectively across sectors and across countries, we prevent crises before they escalate. This is the fundamental rationale of the One Health approach,” Muchima said.
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