The One Health Gap in the Arab World: Diagnosing Governance Deficits through Brucellosis and Hepatitis A

The Arab region faces intensifying interconnected health risks driven by water scarcity, rapid urbanisation, climate-induced agricultural adaptation, livestock intensification, food-system change, and humanitarian emergencies. These challenges are best understood not as isolated disease burdens but as manifestations of fragmented governance across human, animal, and environmental health systems. Using food systems as the analytical lens, this analysis examines two interfaces where One Health governance becomes operationally visible: hepatitis A at the environmental–human interface within the water–food nexus, and brucellosis at the animal–human interface as a food-safety and governance challenge. Drawing on epidemiological evidence, surveillance reports, wastewater and food-safety studies, policy evaluations, and institutional assessments, the analysis identifies persistent weaknesses in integrated surveillance, regulatory enforcement, and financing for multisectoral coordination. It also acknowledges regional variability across the Gulf, Levant, and North Africa, where stronger technical capacity, conflict-related disruption, and research-to-policy gaps shape implementation differently. The case studies show how hepatitis A exposes weak links among wastewater monitoring, food safety, clinical notification, vaccination, and genotyping, while brucellosis reveals gaps in veterinary surveillance, animal traceability, informal dairy regulation, and livestock movement control. Advancing One Health governance requires interoperable data systems, harmonised regulatory frameworks, legal data-sharing obligations, and practical pilots in countries such as Jordan, Tunisia, Egypt, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia before wider regional scaling.