The advent of a holistic approach to ‘one health’

Subject: Science and tech

Section: Health

What is One Health?

One Health is a concept that promotes collaboration across various sectors to address health, productivity, and conservation challenges, particularly relevant to India due to its diverse wildlife, large livestock populations, and dense human population.
This approach is critical in managing the risks of disease spread among these groups. Examples such as the Covid pandemic, Lumpy Skin Disease in cattle, and Avian Influenza illustrate the need for a holistic approach that encompasses human, livestock, and wildlife health.
The aim is to leverage the strengths and complementarities of each sector to develop integrated, robust, and agile response systems for health challenges.

National One Health Mission:

In July 2022, the initiative received endorsement from the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC), leading to collaboration among 13 Ministries and Departments, including the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Biotechnology, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Department of Pharmaceuticals, and AYUSH, the Ministries of Health, Animal Husbandry and Environment as well as Defence.
It recognises the interdependence of humans, animals, and the environment, especially in the context of pandemics like COVID-19 and livestock diseases such as lumpy skin disease.
This collaboration aims to adopt a comprehensive approach towards health and pandemic preparedness. A significant step in this mission was the laying of the foundation stone for the National Institute for One Health in Nagpur by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 11, 2022, which will serve as the central coordinating body for national and international one health activities.

Exercises to strengthen the existing programs and enable their integration into the One Health Mission:

Disease gap prioritization exercise
Mapping of existing surveillance programs
Mapping of laboratory capabilities of existing and upcoming BSL-2, 3 and 4 levels
Mapping institutional capabilities

Federated model for data:

A Federated model will be followed where data will be held in different distributed places and it will be integrated by APIs and other technical means by harmonizing the input and following the data standards.
The data platform will host data related to, but not limited to-
- Integrating surveillance and routine care data within sectors and across sectors like integrating across human health sectors (efforts on linking vector born and NCDC data). Integrating information across sectors, such as between IDSP/NDLM/NRC-W and beyond.
- Disease incidences and outbreaks across sectors
- R&D and preparedness efforts
- Various analytics such as disease modelling, epidemiology capabilities etc. for better decision-making

Source: GOI