Proceeding
Infectious diseases account for nearly 40% of the burden of human mortality and morbidity in
low-income countries, of which 7% is attributable to zoonoses and 13% to recently emerging
diseases from animals. One of the strategic approaches for effective surveillance, monitoring
and control of infectious diseases compromising health in both humans and animals could
be through a combination of multiple disciplines. The approach can be achieved through a
joint effort from stakeholders comprising health professionals (medical and veterinary), social,
economic, agricultural, environmental and other interested parties. With resource scarcity
in terms of number of staff, skills and facility in low-income countries, participatory multi-
sectoral and multidisciplinary approaches in limiting the burden of zoonotic diseases could
be worthwhile. We review challenging issues that may limit the ‘One Health’ approach for
infectious diseases surveillance in Tanzania with a focus on Health Policy and how best the
human and animal health systems could be complemented or linked to suit the community in
need for disease control under the theme’s context.