INFAH participated at ONE HEALTH INDIA 2019 Conference, organized by Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, in partnership with Departments of Agriculture, Research and Education (DARE) and Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries (DAHDF), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Department of Health Research (DHR) and Department of Health & Family Welfare (DHFW) in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals (IAHVB) and Penn State University (USA) at New Delhi on 18th and 19th February 2019.
One of the key attraction of the event was launch of India's new One Health Initiative – an intersectoral approach to tackle the nation's most urgent health threats. The Conference brought together thought leaders from India and around the globe, and provided a platform for researchers, public and private stakeholders and policymakers to integrate knowledge and identify needs and opportunities to better coordinate activities for addressing major human, animal and environmental health challenges.
INFAH was represented by Dr. Vijay Makhija, General Secretary-INFAH as speaker in the Session: Inter-sectoral Collaboration, to share the industry's perspectives. He emphasized on addressing the problem of Anti Microbial Resistance (AMR) in an interdisciplinary, interdependent holistic manner. Dr. Makhija also highlighted need for strengthening the surveillance, reporting mechanism and data analytics for better monitoring and control of diseases. He emphasized on continuous farmer awareness on better hygiene and clean environment to bring scientific animal healthcare practices.
Following proposal were made by INFAH:
- Drafting a local/ country specific approach to address the AMR concerns rather than adopting a global/ other country strategy
- Promote Investments in AMR initiatives
- Framework for collaboration to improve surveillance & monitoring of emerging diseases
- setting up physical / virtual centers for zoonosis & public health
- Setting up of One health centers under central government with the medical/ veterinary/ bio-science faculties at least 1-2 per state with an outlined mandate targeted towards better health for all
This session was chaired by Dr. S.R. Rao, Senior Advisor, DBT & there were presentation from DADF, ICAR, OIE, WHO, Bill & Gates Foundation, ICMR.
ONE HEALTH India 2019 conference was attended by over 250 national and International delegates.
