Our Shared Health: Why Farmers, Doctors, Businesses, And Nature Must Work Together

It is a well-known fact that farming is the backbone of most African economies, providing livelihoods and income for hundreds of millions. But what is not often talked about is how much farming affects the health of our people, our animals, and our environment.

Farmers are not just growing food. They are stewards of our land and front-line defenders against disease. They play a crucial role in preventing the spread of harmful germs, including those that can make people and animals very sick. In Africa, farmers are as important to health as doctors and nurses.

Yet too often, we treat these sectors separately. Health ministries focus on people, agriculture ministries work with farmers, veterinary services care for animals, and environmental agencies manage conservation. Each works with its own budget and priorities, rarely talking to the others.

This separation is dangerous. When a child in a rural community falls ill, doctors may not know that livestock nearby have been sick with a new disease. When wildlife dies unexpectedly, environmental officers may not alert human health teams. Important information gets lost. The result is outbreaks detected too late, wasted resources, and communities caught unprepared.

One Health offers a better way. It recognizes that human health, animal health, and environmental health are deeply connected. Doctors, veterinarians, environmental scientists, and community leaders work together as a team. Instead of reacting to crises separately, they prevent them together.

Practical examples already exist across Africa. Some communities use indigenous knowledge to understand the connection between people, animals, and the land. Joint vaccination campaigns, where children and livestock are immunized at the same time, save time, money, and build trust. Mobile laboratories can test samples from humans and animals simultaneously, quickly spotting diseases that might spread between species. These labs also create skilled jobs for technicians, data analysts, and disease surveillance specialists.

In Zambia, our One Health Strategic Plan, launched in 2023, has created integrated emergency response teams and multisectoral technical working groups in all ten provinces. These teams have accelerated responses to outbreaks like anthrax and rabies. By involving local leaders, they improve community awareness and cooperation.

Across Eastern and Southern Africa, much of our disease risk is shaped by how farms, pharmaceutical suppliers, veterinary businesses, transporters, and food processors operate. When these businesses adopt One Health-aligned practices, they reduce health threats while boosting economic growth. These practices include livestock traceability systems, strong biosafety and food safety standards, antibiotic stewardship, nature-based solutions, circular economy approaches, and market-based tools like insurance and trade requirements that reward responsible behavior. By integrating One Health into business models, the region can build a healthier population and a more competitive economy.

Africa faces mounting challenges: climate change, humanitarian crises, and increasing disease outbreaks. Foreign aid is shrinking, forcing us to find our own solutions. But within this challenge lies the opportunity to build health security rooted in local innovation, domestic financing, and regional collaboration.

This week, Ministers of Health, Agriculture, and Environment from SADC member states will meet in Lusaka at the Regional One Health Conference. Recognizing that health security, food systems resilience and responsible environment management are shared challenges that cross borders, the goal is to advance practical, community centered One Health solutions. Stronger health systems will create safer trade, protect communities, and strengthen economies.

One Health is not just a program or a buzzword. It is a fundamental shift in how we understand and protect the wellbeing of our continent. Africa’s youth – 60 percent of our population is under 25 – are passionate about building a better future. We must encourage them to use their entrepreneurial spirit to build local One Health solutions.

The choice is clear: we can continue working in silos, responding to crises as they overwhelm us, or we can embrace One Health fully bringing together farmers, doctors, and environmental teams under a shared vision to prevent disease, create jobs, and build resilient systems for our future.

Author: Hon. Elijah J. Muchima, Minister of health, Government of the Republic of Zambia