The government has got going on its ambitious ‘One Health Mission’ for integrated surveillance of diseases across human, animal and wildlife sectors and has formed cross-ministerial action groups and a steering committee for the purpose.
A Project Management Unit is being set up in the office of the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the prime minister to coordinate the complex programme, which will also involve various private organisations in India and global organisations. A ‘Cross-Ministerial One Health Action Group’ and a ‘One Health Steering Committee’ has also been formed for the mission that will be coordinating between six ministries.
This will facilitate work-streams between various ministries and departments involved in ‘One Health Mission’ — the Ministry of Environment, Department of Animal Husbandry, Department of Science and Technology, National Centre for Disease Control, National Disaster Management Authority, Indian Council of Medical Research, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the state governments.
Steps Ahead
The groups now formed by the government will focus on R&D efforts on solutions for priority diseases to be put under integrated surveillance and better disease control. The work will also involve pandemic preparedness, including in animals, studying global efforts and international programmes in this field and consultations with national and international experts for inputs.
Academia, networks of business and industry-related resources will also be involved in the mission. The major deliverable of the ‘One Health Mission’ is a unified pandemic preparedness plan that is created by taking into consideration technology and policy-level interventions across human, livestock, and wildlife sectors, as per Office of PSA which will coordinate the mission.
The Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC), on July 7, 2022, recommended the launching of the ‘One Health Mission’ amid a debate over its need after the Covid-19 pandemic. It is being steered under new PSA Dr Ajay K Sood.
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