DAHD Launches One Health Pilot Project in Uttarakhand

The Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), under the Ministry Of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying(MoFAHD), the Government of India(GoI) has launched the One Health Pilot project in Uttarakhand. 

The objective of the one health pilot project is to implement the One Health Framework by the One Health Support Unit. 

• Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary(AHD), DAHD launched the project in the presence of Dr Praveen Malik, Animal Husbandry Commissioner, GoI and other senior officials.

During the orientation and launch of One Health Pilot in Uttarakhand, the DAHD launched 3 publications highlighting Disease Prioritization, Assessment for State Selection, and One Health Capacity Building Plan. 

One Health Support Unit:

Objective: To develop a national One Health roadmap based on the learnings of the pilot project implementation. 

Implementation: 

To lead the implementation of the One Health Support Unit, an Inter-ministerial One Health committee under the chairmanship of the Principal Scientific Adviser(PSA) to the GoI (Current PSA is K Vijay Raghavan) has been established. 

Project Steering Committee(PSC):

i.Under the chairmanship of Secretary(AHD), GoI, a Project Steering Committee (PSC) has been constituted. 

ii.The PSC involves representatives from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, ICAR, civil societies, international development organizations and field practitioners.

Following the recommendations of the PSC, the State and district level one health committees will be constituted by involving authorities from health, animal husbandry and environment ministries.

About the Pilot Project:

i.This pilot project will support the creation of a One Health Framework for India and also assist in building a strong social infrastructure to support the health of the people and the planet.

ii.This project will also support capacity building and understanding of disease prioritization.

iii.6 interventions have been planned for the implementation of this pilot project. These interventions will cover institutionalization and operationalization aspects to ensure better coordination among different relevant sectors. 

Activities:

The activities to be undertaken as a part of the pilot project includes, 

• Institutionalising the mechanism for the data collection on disease outbreaks, prevalence, management, and development of a targeted surveillance plan, 
• Integrating a network of laboratories.
• Developing and implementing communication strategies across sectors.
• Integration of the data with the digital architecture of the National Digital Livestock Mission.

About One Health India:

The ‘One Health India’ program initiated by the DAHD will work with the stakeholders from various sectors with an aim to improve livestock health, human health, wildlife health, and environmental health through technology and finance. 

Recent Related News:

On October 14, 2021, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) launched India’s 1st ‘One Health’ consortium to carry out surveillance of important bacterial, viral and parasitic infections of zoonotic as well as transboundary pathogens. It will consist of 27 organizations led by the DBT-National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB), Hyderabad (Telangana).

About Ministry Of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying(MoFAHD):

Union Minister– Parshottam Rupala(Rajya Sabha- Gujarat)
Minister of State– Sanjeev Kumar Balyan(Constituency- Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh), Dr L. Murugan(Rajya Sabha- Madhya Pradesh)