At its 93rd General Session, WOAH presented its Wildlife Health Strategy 2026-2030, focused on strengthening governance, scientific knowledge and integrated surveillance systems, with support from WAHIS and the WildEpi platform.
During its 93rd General Session held in May, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) presented its new Wildlife Health Strategy 2026-2030. The document reaffirms the importance of wildlife health surveillance systems as a fundamental pillar of global health security, biodiversity conservation and ecosystem resilience, within the framework of an integrated health approach.
The new roadmap follows on from the achievements of the Wildlife Health Framework (2021-2025) and is conceived as a more focused and operational instrument to support WOAH Members in preventing, detecting and responding to health risks at the interface between humans, animals and the environment.
The strategy is built around three main objectives: strengthening the governance of wildlife health systems, improving scientific knowledge and risk analysis-based policies, and establishing sustainable, integrated and multisectoral wildlife health surveillance systems.
The plan focuses on surveillance systems, addresses health risks in the wildlife trade and supports early-stage prevention initiatives to reduce the risk of disease emergence. WOAH maintains that healthy wildlife populations are essential not only for biodiversity conservation, but also for protecting animal health, public health and ecosystem resilience, as well as for supporting sustainable food systems worldwide.
One of the strategy's main priorities is to strengthen wildlife health surveillance systems across all WOAH Members. To this end, it promotes greater collaboration among veterinary services, environmental authorities, conservation agencies, public health institutions, academia and local communities, in order to improve prevention, preparedness and early detection capacities.
In this regard, WOAH will continue to enhance wildlife disease reporting and information sharing through the World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS), and will expand the use of WildEpi, its next-generation wildlife health information system. WildEpi is a secure platform that allows authorised professionals to share information on wildlife health-related incidents, report and analyse morbidity and mortality cases in real time, strengthen risk analysis and foster data-driven decision-making through multisectoral collaboration. The platform leverages technological advances by offering artificial intelligence-based support for wildlife species identification.
The strategy places particular emphasis on practical implementation through regional projects, partnerships and support at national level. Key implementation mechanisms include the ZOOSURSY projects in Africa, Nature for Health (N4H) and TARTANET, which support integrated wildlife health surveillance systems, workforce development and multisectoral coordination.
The plan also strengthens collaboration with international partners and networks, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Wildlife Disease Association (WDA) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The International Alliance against Health Risks in Wildlife Trade is integrated as the arm focused on wildlife trade with a "One Health" approach encompassing all risks.
At national level, the workshop on wildlife disease surveillance held in Bomi County, Liberia, in March 2025, shows how countries are turning awareness into practical action. During the workshop, participants reviewed the guidelines for surveillance of diseases, pathogens and toxic agents in free-ranging wildlife, published in September 2024 by IUCN and WOAH, which help countries strengthen surveillance systems through a "One Health" approach.
With this strategy, WOAH seeks to empower its Members and partners to prevent, anticipate, detect and respond rapidly to threats to wildlife health. By placing wildlife health at the centre of the One Health agenda, the organisation aims to contribute to healthier wildlife, more resilient ecosystems and a safer planet for future generations.
