When Science Becomes Common Ground
World Science Day for Peace and Development is observed on November 10. UNESCO’s 2026 theme, “Common ground through science diplomacy,” focuses attention on scientific cooperation across borders. [1] For One Health, that cooperation is essential to making evidence useful beyond the place where it was collected. A laboratory result can inform a wider assessment only if partners can share it, understand its limitations and agree what should happen next.
Science diplomacy in One Health
Science diplomacy helps countries work together through scientific relationships and agreements. In One Health, this means building arrangements for joint research and surveillance that can continue across national boundaries. Scientific cooperation does not remove political differences. It does, however, give institutions a way to work on a defined problem and discuss evidence through established channels.
The One Health High-Level Expert Panel describes an integrated approach to sustainably balancing and improving the health of people, animals and ecosystems. [2] Science diplomacy supports that purpose when it helps partners connect their findings and share the responsibility for responding.
Influenza surveillance across borders
WHO’s Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) provides a concrete example. This international laboratory network conducts year-round influenza surveillance and helps assess pandemic risk. Its work covers seasonal, pandemic and zoonotic influenza, including viruses that can pass between animals and people. [3,4]
Laboratories share influenza viruses so that specialists can study them and compare findings. WHO describes how this sharing supports pandemic risk assessment, the development of candidate vaccine viruses, updates to diagnostic materials and monitoring for resistance to antiviral medicines. [4] These are specific uses for shared evidence, rather than an assumption that collecting more data automatically improves decisions.
GISRS is an influenza surveillance network, not a complete model for every One Health challenge. Its relevance here is the sustained cross-border cooperation that allows laboratory work in one country to support preparedness elsewhere.
Cooperation needs agreed rules
Sharing depends on agreed responsibilities. Under WHO’s Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework, transfers of covered biological materials within GISRS are governed by an agreement setting out laboratories’ rights and obligations. These include handling and onward transfer of materials, research and publication, and intellectual property. [4] Clear terms help partners understand how their contributions may be used.
Data need similar care. UNESCO’s Recommendation on Open Science promotes scientific knowledge that is accessible and reusable, while recognizing proportionate, justified restrictions for privacy and confidentiality, among other reasons. [5] Responsible cooperation therefore requires attention to who can access information and under what conditions, as well as whether others can interpret and use it.
The One Health Joint Plan of Action provides a broader framework for cooperation. Developed by the Quadripartite partnership of FAO, UNEP, WHO and WOAH, it supports coordinated work on health risks at the human–animal–plant–environment interface. [6] In August 2026, the partners agreed to extend implementation through 2029, giving countries a shared framework for planning beyond the original 2022–2026 period. [7]
A practical step for World Science Day
For One Health teams, a useful response to this year’s theme is to review one existing collaboration. A practical review can focus on four priorities:
Assign responsibility for checking findings, authorizing release and contacting partner institutions when a potential concern emerges.
Agree on data definitions and quality checks. Record methods, collection dates and limitations so partners can judge what a result means.
Set expectations for timely sharing, including how urgent signals and later corrections will reach the people who need them.
Build privacy safeguards and ethical review into the arrangement. Agree on access, appropriate use and recognition of contributors before a crisis puts the relationship under pressure.
World Science Day offers a reason to check whether those arrangements work in practice. Choosing one gap to fix, such as an unclear contact route or inconsistent data definitions, can make an existing partnership more useful when evidence needs to travel.
