Rwanda became the first country in Africa to launch One Health Communication Guidelines, aimed at improving ethical and integrated reporting on health issues that affect humans, animals, and the environment.
The guidelines were officially launched on June 20, 2025, in Kigali by the Rwanda Media Commission (RMC), in partnership with the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) – AfriCenter.
This initiative is part of the Capacitating One Health in Eastern and Southern Africa (COHESA) Project which conducted a series of consultative meetings with media, scientists and government in order to come up with guidelines that will build a cross-sector capacity for responsible science communication.
Although the One Health framework is globally recognised, it often receives limited coverage in mainstream media.
This is partly because health stories are typically reported separately — either focusing on people, animals, or the environment — missing the interconnection at the heart of One Health.
The new guidelines aim to change this by promoting a unified approach to reporting, known as “One Health as One Story”. Officials say this approach will help raise awareness and make the One Health concept more visible and impact public discussions.
The launch event brought together journalists, health professionals, academics, civil society members, and government officials to highlight the media’s critical role in shaping public understanding of complex health issues — such as zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), food security, and climate-sensitive illnesses.
“These guidelines will not only help journalists report more ethically and responsibly, but also strengthen collaboration across science and public sectors,” said Emmanuel Mugisha, Executive Secretary of RMC.
“It’s about ensuring that information shared with the public is trustworthy, relevant, and encourages collective action,” he added. Dr. Anselme Shyaka, Head of the One Health Centre at UGHE and COHESA Rwanda lead, emphasized that the guidelines will build journalists’ confidence to report complete One Health topics using data and expert input to produce stories of impact.
Shyaka said that science-based reporting is a public good and the guidelines will help communicators report with accuracy, empathy, and shared responsibility.
“This is very important because when we dont tell that complete story, something else will fill the gap. Rumors will come in, misinformation, fear; and these can be more dangerous as the health threat itself,” he said.
Shyaka stated that the guidelines give a road map on how to talk about complex contemporary interconnected issues such as zoonotic diseases- infectious disease that can be transmitted between animals and humans; reporting on microbial resistance, food security and climate change.
He also encouraged media to work closely with scientists to simplify complex issues into a common man’s language but also promised to compile and publish a collection of terminologies that can be used in future.
Dr. Margaret Karembu, Director of ISAAA AfriCenter and Chair of the Africa Science Dialogue, stressed the urgency of fighting misinformation in science reporting, which she described as “a major challenge next to climate change.”
She commended Rwanda for leading the way and called for the guidelines to be adapted by other African countries.
In her closing remarks, Dr. Phaedra Henley, Chair of the Center for One Health at UGHE, highlighted that: “Information is a key determinant of health and critical for the success of the One Health approach.”
𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗚𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱:
COHESA, ISAAA AfriCenter, and UGHE committed to continue supporting local journalists and other stakeholders in Rwanda and beyond to promote ethical and integrated One Health storytelling.
RMC pledged to incorporate the guidelines into national media ethics frameworks, monitor how journalists apply them, and evaluate their impact on the quality of health reporting.