One Health Approach Overview
The One Health approach connects human, animal, and environmental health.
Zoonotic diseases, which jump from animals to humans, are a major global threat.
Current efforts in India focus on integrating public health, veterinary, and environmental sectors but lack coordination and multidisciplinary involvement.
Need for a Multidisciplinary Approach
Existing One Health panels are dominated by public health and veterinary professionals, neglecting ecologists and social scientists.
Experts stress that a systems-thinking perspective is needed to understand zoonotic disease dynamics.
Addressing diseases should focus on the interactions between human, animal, and environmental systems.
Surveillance and Data Sharing
Surveillance needs to be multi-level: reactive, baseline, and horizon scanning.
Reactive Surveillance: This addresses known outbreaks of zoonotic diseases, focusing on immediate responses to control and mitigate the spread of diseases.
Baseline Surveillance: This type of surveillance monitors the prevalence of key zoonotic diseases in both wild and domestic animals over time to detect any shifts in disease patterns.
Horizon Scanning: This involves identifying emerging pathogens before they can spill over into humans, which is crucial for preventing future outbreaks.
Data sharing between human health and veterinary sectors is crucial but currently weak.
Integrating animal health data with environmental and meteorological data into national reporting databases, like the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), would improve predictive capacity and response.
Expanding Beyond Zoonotic Diseases
While zoonotic diseases are a focus, experts call for more attention to climate science and broader ecological factors.
Strengthening intersectoral collaboration, especially with forestry and climate science, is vital for understanding disease emergence.
India must invest in spatially explicit disease monitoring, using platforms like the Health Heat Map to enhance early detection, analysis, and response to diseases, bridging the gaps between human, animal, and environmental health
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