WHO enhances national capacity on environment and health through the One Health approach in Turkmenistan

During the visit, Dr. Netanyahu worked closely with national counterparts to support Turkmenistan in integrating environmental considerations more effectively into health systems, pandemic preparedness planning, and intersectoral coordination mechanisms.

At the heart of the mission was a national workshop titled “Capacity Building in Environment and Health within the One Health Approach.” The workshop brought together representatives from the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and relevant services and committees, the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Veterinary Service, the State Committee for Water Management, Myrat Garryyev State Medical University, Turkmen Agricultural University named after S.A. Niyazov, and the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan. International partners participating in the workshop included FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), WOAH (World Organization for Animal Health), UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), CAREC (Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia), WB (World Bank) as well as UNICEF and UNDP.

The workshop aimed to strengthen Turkmenistan’s capacity to integrate environmental considerations into One Health initiatives as part of the implementation of the multi-country Pandemic Fund project “Prevention, Preparedness, and Response to Pandemics within the Framework of the One Health Initiative in Central Asia” in Turkmenistan. It focused on incorporating WHO/Europe’s environment and health framework into One Health initiatives across the health, environment, and agriculture sectors, while emphasizing the importance of strong intersectoral coordination for environmental protection, surveillance, risk assessment, and outbreak response.

Discussions during the workshop also highlighted the need to align environmental aspects of the One Health approach with the Joint Environmental Action Plan (particularly Pillar 6), the WHO Roadmap for Central Asia, the Budapest Declaration, and the environmental component of the Global Biodiversity Framework, including the Global Plan of Action on Biodiversity and Health, as well as with the priorities of the Pandemic Response Fund to ensure coherent implementation and effective use of resources.

The mission was organized by the WHO Country Office in Turkmenistan and the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan, the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Veterinary Service and international development partners.