Early in the SMM, the facilitator challenged participants to focus on short-term goals rather than long-term vision and asked for definition of what success would look like in 3–5 years. The participants agreed that progress toward the One Health vision would be achieved if the following actions were undertaken:

The facilitator further challenged the attendees to identify tangible, results oriented, outcome driven, and practical steps to achieve these short-term goals. The group nominated 21 “enabling initiatives” that would provide positive movement toward the short-term goals and seven of these were selected as most essential: One Health Training; Proof of Concept; Business Plan; Country Level Needs Assessment; Capacity Building; Information Clearing House; and One Health Global Network. Each of these initiatives translated into a Work Group devised to survive the SMM, and near the end of the meeting participants were invited to sign up for membership, and to volunteer for leadership, in a Work Group. Often, at such a juncture, meeting participants politely exit the conference venue. However, at the end of the SMM, every participant signed up to volunteer their time and energy to carry the process forward.

During the final session of the meeting, the Work Groups met to designate co-chairs, draft objectives and deliverables, compose a timeline, and define when the group would next convene. Each Work Group presented this information to the other participants for comment before the SMM adjourned.

After the meeting ended, an initial short summary report was quickly prepared, reviewed for accuracy, and then widely posted on the Internet (http://​www.​cdc.​gov/​onehealth/​pdf/​atlanta/​brief_​overview.​pdf). This action was followed by publication of a longer and more comprehensive description of the initial goals and objectives of each Work Group www.​cdc.​gov/​onehealth. The co-chairs represent seven different nationalities and each comes from a different agency, organization, or university.

As of spring 2012, all of the Work Groups remain active and productive. Two of the groups, Information Clearing House and One Health Global Network, recognized that the synergy of their activities would be maximized if they combined efforts. Thus, the Information Clearing House Work Group was incorporated into the One Health Global Network Work Group. Each Work Group meets independently, primarily by conference call but occasionally in person, and all of the Work Group co-chairs participate in a bi-monthly conference call. CDC facilitates the publication of periodic newsletters summarizing overall Work Group accomplishments, ongoing activities, and specific products from individual Work Groups http://​www.​cdc.​gov/​onehealth/​pdf/​workgroups/​newsletter-june-2011.​pdf. Selected examples of accomplishments include: the Proof of Concept Work Group conducted an extensive literature review to identify peer-reviewed manuscripts that demonstrate the added value of intervention studies that incorporate animal, human, and environmental health sectors; group summarized their findings in a paper that is currently undergoing clearance. This Work Group has also put out a call for project proposals describing limited scope intervention studies in international settings. The In-Country One Health Self-Assessment Work Group worked with contractors to develop self-assessment guidance document that was reviewed by an expert panel at an April, 2011 workshop; Volume 1 focusing on background and rationale has been completed and Volume 2 focusing on inter-sectoral collaboration is undergoing an additional round of revision. The next step, in collaboration with the Capacity Building Work Group, is to pilot the guidance both in North America (United States and Canada) as well as internationally.