The ‘One Health’ Program proposed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) is going to be implemented in Odisha soon.
The Health Department has initiated the process to launch the programme with coordination among various departments, Public Health Director Niranjan Mishra said here today.
The programme will be piloted in four States in India including OdishaThe programme will be extended to the entire nation in a phased manner, Dr.Mishra said.
“The idea of one health is to contain the zoonotic diseases which spread from animals to humans like anthrax, Nipah, scrub typhus through coordinated actions. The containment, surveillance and treatment of zoonotic disease is the motto of ‘One Health’. To achieve the mission, coordination among various sectors like health, agriculture, veterinary, and wildlife is required. We are working on it.” he stated.
One Health’ is an integrated, unifying approach to balance and optimize the health of people, animals and the environment. It is particularly important to prevent, predict, detect, and respond to global health threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
The approach mobilizes multiple sectors, disciplines and communities at varying levels of society to work together. This way, new and better ideas are developed that address root causes and create long-term, sustainable solutions.
One Health involves the public health, veterinary, public health and environmental sectors. The One Health approach is particularly relevant for food and water safety, nutrition, the control of zoonoses (diseases that can spread between animals and humans, such as flu, rabies and Rift Valley fever), pollution management, and combating antimicrobial resistance, as per the WHO.