Application of One Health Biotechnology to Tackle Environmental and Infectious Disease Burdens in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Critical Narrative Review

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa carries a disproportionate share of the global infectious disease burden, with environmental degradation, rapid urbanisation, climate variability, and the human–animal–ecosystem interface collectively driving the emergence, persistence, and spread of pathogens. The One Health framework—which recognises the inextricable connections between human, animal, and environmental health—provides an integrative architecture within which modern biotechnology can be strategically deployed. This review critically examines the application of One Health biotechnology in Sub-Saharan Africa, encompassing molecular diagnostics, genomic surveillance, gene drive technology, Wolbachia-based biocontrol, mRNA vaccines, environmental metagenomics, and wastewater-based epidemiology. It evaluates relevant biotechnological platforms, contextualises their application within the region's ecological and epidemiological realities, and critically appraises implementation barriers including infrastructure deficits, regulatory fragmentation, and equity constraints. Drawing on literature published between January 2014 and February 2026, supplemented by seminal earlier works, this narrative synthesis finds that One Health biotechnological interventions hold substantial promise for reducing disease burdens linked to malaria, trypanosomiasis, zoonoses, neglected tropical diseases, and antimicrobial resistance. Realising this potential, however, requires the simultaneous strengthening of laboratory infrastructure, bioinformatics capacity, biosafety regulation, and community engagement. Targeted investment in regional biotechnology ecosystems—guided by principles of equity and African scientific ownership—is essential if the advances reviewed here are to deliver sustained public health gains for the populations of Sub-Saharan Africa.