Overview

One Health is a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach that recognizes the fundamental interdependence between human, animal, and environmental health. Emerging infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, climate change, and food system vulnerabilities increasingly highlight the need for integrated surveillance and response strategies. The One Health approach aims to break down institutional silos by fostering cooperation among sectors such as public health, veterinary medicine, wildlife ecology, agriculture, and environmental science. By linking human clinical data with animal disease reports and environmental indicators, we can better understand the drivers of disease emergence and improve the timeliness and effectiveness of interventions.

Our Expertise

Fjelltopp has deep experience designing and implementing digital platforms that operationalize the One Health approach. We build data systems that integrate inputs from medical, veterinary, and environmental domains—ensuring compatibility, quality, and actionable analytics. Our work in Integrated Bite Case Management (IBCM) for rabies surveillance in Tanzania, in collaboration with the University of Glasgow and Ifakara Health Institute, exemplifies the One Health approach in action. We developed tools to track bite cases across species, linking human patients with animal reservoirs and enabling coordinated response efforts from both healthcare workers and veterinarians.

We have also supported veterinary disease surveillance projects and worked with ecological data integration, using custom solutions and leading platforms platforms such as DHIS2 and Open Data Kit. Fjelltopp brings robust experience in the full data lifecycle—designing interoperable data models, implementing mobile data capture, configuring analytics dashboards, and supporting decision-making with high-quality evidence.

Challenges & Solutions

Implementing One Health systems often involves navigating fragmented governance, sector-specific data practices, and limited digital infrastructure. Key challenges include:

• Siloed data ecosystems between ministries of health, agriculture, and environment.
• Disparate regulatory environments and conflicting standards for data ownership and privacy.
• Low interoperability between human and animal health surveillance platforms.
• Resource constraints and limited technical capacity at subnational levels.

Fjelltopp addresses these barriers by:

• Designing common data standards and metadata schemas that accommodate cross-sectoral use cases while preserving domain-specific integrity.
• Leading multi-sectoral stakeholder engagement, co-design workshops, and training initiatives to build trust and foster ownership across professional communities.
• Developing secure, flexible digital platforms—including DHIS2 Tracker-based systems, CKAN-powered repositories, and cloud-based ODK deployments—that are adaptable to local needs and compliant with national and international data policies.
• Building data integration pipelines that combine structured and unstructured sources, harmonize taxonomies, and ensure long-term sustainability through open-source technologies and capacity building.

By embedding the One Health ethos into every layer of data architecture—from field-level data collection to policy dashboards—we empower governments, research institutions, and multilateral organizations to respond more effectively to complex health threats..