Foreword – The World Organisation for Animal Health turns 100: reflections on the Organisation’s role and evolution since 1924

On 25 January 1924, representatives of 28 countries met to sign an International Agreement on coordinated action to fight the spread of animal diseases by trade. This marked the founding of the Office International des Epizooties, now named the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). Over the years, the historic mission of WOAH has been enriched and the scope of its mandate broadened to include new activities. The construction and development of WOAH can be mapped out across four main phases. The first phase began with the creation of WOAH as an organisation focusing on animal diseases. Its mandate was confined to two objectives: publishing the sanitary information notified by its Members and elaborating standards aimed at ensuring safer trade. This mandate remains central to the Organisation today. The second phase saw the diversification of the Organisation’s fields of intervention with the development of standards for aquatic animals, the broadening of WOAH’s scope to include animal welfare, and a foray into the wildlife sector. In the third phase, the disease- or theme-based approach was complemented with the launch of the Performance of Veterinary Services Pathway, a capacity building programme monitoring the performance of Veterinary Services, making recommendations where needed. The fourth and last phase revolves around two strong objectives: 1) strengthening the Organisation’s strategic approach to make the resulting actions more consistent, and 2) positioning the Organisation more firmly as a player at the intersection of critical global challenges, such as the One Health approach and the Sustainable Development Goals. This phase includes WOAH’s collaboration with the Quadripartite partners (the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations Environment Programme) as well as its publishing of high-visibility position papers, statements or vision papers on topics such as livestock production, animal welfare and the use of growth promoters. (…)