Representatives from multiple sectors from national governments in 28 WPRO and SEARO countries, as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan, joined staff from OIE, FAO, WHO—143 participants in total—from 9 to 11 April in Bangkok for the 8th Asia-Pacific workshop on multisectoral collaboration at the animal-human-ecosystems interface.

Country participants shared their experiences with the national implementation of multisectoral collaboration and taking a One Health approach. It was evident that much progress has been made. Various existing tools and frameworks were presented—Joint External Evaluation, IHR-PVS National Bridging Workshop, Joint Risk Assessment, for example—that aim at enhancing multisectoral collaboration. Countries shared their experiences and identified their interest and needs for future applications of these tools, and the new Tripartite Zoonoses Guide.

Participants discussed a number of constraints for multisectoral coordination, collaboration and operationalization of One Health, as well and options for overcoming them: these include high-level commitment, human and financial resources, collaboration mechanisms with clear roles and responsibilities, and transparent and reliable risk communication.

The use of new media such as web-based information systems and social media as well as establishing linkages with the press was discussed, as was supporting the timely and accurate delivery of health-related messages.

Most zoonotic diseases are of transboundary nature due to the movement of humans, animals (including wildlife) and their products across regions. Given that, participants recognized the need for cross-border collaboration for One Health.

The workshop was co-organized by the FAO-OIE-WHO Regional Tripartite and hosted by FAO. Recommendations from this meeting are being prepared, and country progress reviewed again at the 9^th meeting, to be hosted by OIE (date and location to be confirmed) 

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