India’s first ‘One Health’ Consortium launched- All you need to know!

Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology on October 14, 2021, virtually launched India’s first ‘One Health’ Consortium.

The newly launched consortium envisages carrying out the surveillance of important viral, bacterial and parasitic infections of the zoonotic as well as the transboundary pathogens.

Dr. Swarup, while speaking on the occasion, informed that the ‘One Health’ Consortium consisting of the 27 organizations led by the DBT- National Institute of Biotechnology, Hyderabad is one of the biggest health programmes that has been launched by the Indian Government in the post-COVID-19 times.

📢#India's first #OneHealth Consortium Launched by @DBTIndia

➡️To carry out surveillance of important bacterial, viral and parasitic infections of zoonotic as well as transboundary pathogens in India

🔗https://t.co/BTLyOJ58uo@DrJitendraSingh @RenuSwarup pic.twitter.com/kxA85AQiJo

— BiotechIndia (@DBTIndia) October 14, 2021

‘One Health’ Consortium consists of AIIMS Jodhpur, AIIMS Delhi, IVRI, Bareilly, GADVASU, Ludhiana, TANUVAS, Chennai, MAFSU, Nagpur, Assam Agricultural and Veterinary University, and many more ICAR, ICMR Centers, and wildlife agencies.

Objective:

• ‘One Health’ Consortium envisages carrying out the surveillance of significant viral, bacterial infections of zoonotic as well as the transboundary pathogens in India, including the North-eastern part of the country.

• The project by the Department of Biotechnology will look into the use of existing diagnostic tests.

• As per the official statement, the project will also be responsible for the development of additional methodologies for surveillance and the understanding spread of emerging diseases.

Why ‘One Health’ Consortium is significant at present times?

The need for the ‘One Heath’ Consortium has increased at the time. The risk of the infectious agents capable of jumping the barriers of species has increased. Such diseases also have devastating impacts on humans, animals, health systems, and economies, requiring years of social and economic recovery.

Sensing the urgent need, the Department of Biotechnology supported a mega consortium on ‘One Health’.

Holistic approach to understand zoonotic diseases

Dr. Renu Swarup, while noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the relevance of ‘One Health’ principles in the governance of infectious diseases, particularly the efforts to prevent and contain zoonotic diseases throughout the world, emphasized a holistic approach in order to understand the health of humans, wildlife and animals to minimize the damage caused by the future pandemics.