Health Information Manager advances One Health approach to protect Nigeria’s most vulnerable communities

Across underserved communities in southwestern Nigeria, preventable illness continues to escalate into crisis not solely because healthcare services are absent, but because the systems connecting people, environments, and timely information often fail. In areas where poor sanitation, close human–animal contact, and delayed reporting intersect, health risks multiply quietly until emergencies occur.

To address this gap, Health Information Manager and Public Health Advocate Damilola Shaba is leading a community-based initiative grounded in the One Health approach, strengthening how health information is collected, shared, and acted upon at the frontline level.

In mid-2022, Shaba began coordinating a multi-community health information and surveillance effort across Ekiti, Osun, Abuja, Ondo, and Kwara States. Working with primary health centers, record officers, and community volunteers, she focused on improving early detection of health risks linked to environmental exposure, chronic disease, and communicable conditions recognizing that human health cannot be separated from environmental and community contexts.

“One Health means prevention starts long before someone arrives at a clinic,” Shaba explained. “When we improve how data is captured from households, communities, and health facilities we protect people, environments, and livelihoods at the same time.”

Her initiative trained over 60 health record officers and community health volunteers on standardized patient documentation, basic digital data entry, referral tracking, and environmental health indicators. Many participating facilities had previously relied on fragmented paper records, limiting follow-up and obscuring patterns related to sanitation conditions, water access, and disease recurrence.

Within the first three months, participating centers reported a 35% reduction in incomplete or missing patient records, alongside more than 140 documented referrals for maternal health services, chronic disease management, mental-health consultations, and environmentally linked illnesses. Health workers noted that patients were being identified and supported earlier before conditions worsened into emergencies.

A senior nurse at a primary health center in Kwara State described the shift:

“Now we can see patterns who keeps returning sick, where cases are coming from, and what environmental issues may be contributing. It has improved our response and helped us save lives.”

Beyond clinical facilities, Shaba extended the One Health framework into community spaces. She partnered with women’s groups, faith leaders, and local volunteers to deliver health-literacy sessions on early symptom recognition, hygiene, safe water practices, animal contact awareness, and referral pathways. These sessions emphasized that protecting health requires shared responsibility across households, environments, and care systems.

In total, more than 400 community members were reached through these outreach activities in 2022. Community leaders reported increased trust in primary health centers and a greater willingness among residents particularly older adults and individuals with chronic conditions to seek care early rather than wait for emergencies.

Shaba stresses that her work is not about technology alone.

“Data must reflect real life,” she said. “When information connects people, environment, and care, it becomes a prevention tool not just a record.”

Local health officials have begun reviewing her documentation framework as a potential One Health–informed model for improving surveillance and response across additional districts. Public-health analysts note that strengthening data at the community level can reduce preventable hospitalizations, improve outbreak detection, and lower long-term healthcare costs.

For families, the impact has been tangible. One caregiver shared how a timely follow-up referral helped secure treatment for an elderly parent with a worsening condition linked to environmental exposure.

“If not for the follow-up call, we would have waited too long,” the caregiver said. “That information made the difference.”

By integrating human health data with environmental awareness and community engagement, Shaba is demonstrating how Health Information Managers can operationalize One Health in real-world settings far beyond policy documents or academic theory.

Her work in 2022 highlights a growing recognition within public health: strong health systems depend not only on doctors and medicines, but on accurate, connected, and community-centered information systems.

As Nigeria continues to confront health inequities and environmental challenges, initiatives like hers show that when One Health principles are applied at the grassroots level, prevention becomes possible and lives are protected.