The Cornell Sathguru Foundation for Development (CSFD), Indian Federation for Animal Health Companies (INFAH) and University of Hyderabad jointly organised the One Health India Summit on 3rd-4th May' 2018 at Hyatt Regency, New Delhi. The event was inaugurated by Dr. Eshwar Reddy, DCGI and Dr. S. R. Rao, DBT. The conference brought together some of the best academicians world over and participants from the Government of India and industry to discuss the future of “One Health” and how minor changes in, can affect all concerned. The attendees gained a deeper and broader understanding on how inter connected healthcare, food and environment is and the need to encourage collaborative efforts of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally to achieve the best health for people, animals, and our environment.
The participants were drawn from CDSCO, FSSAI, FAO, INFAH, WHO India Office, NCDC, DBT, Welcome Trust, CDC India Office, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Cornell University, ICAR-CIRG, NDDB, IVRI, TANUVAS, GADVASU, KVASU, University of Hyderabad, National Institute of Nutrition, Human Pharmaceutical industry and Animal health industry.
Eminent professionals viz Dr. P. Reddana, University of Hyderabad; Mr. K. Vijayraghan, CSFD; Dr. Rajesh Bhatia, FAO; Dr. Alexendra Traviz, Cornell University; Dr. Ashok Tiwari, IVRI; Dr. Samar Mahendran, CGS Hospital; Dr. Shoor Vir Singh, ICAR-CIRG; Dr. J.P.S. Gill, GADVASU; Dr. G. Ravi Kumar, TANUVAS; Dr. Criag Altier, Cornell University; Dr. S.K. Rana, NDDB and many renowned experts graced their presence for the summit. INFAH was represented by Dr. D. K. Dey, President; Mr Vijay Teng, Vice President; Mr. Satish Pasrija, Former President ; Dr. Arun Atrey, Past President; Dr. P. G. Phalke, Treasurer and Dr. Vijay Makhija, General Secretary as well as members of INFAH Sub-committees, Dr. K. Anand Kumar, Managing Director, IIL and professionals from Animal welfare associations.
The two days summit has eight sessions including presentations on Food Safety; Infectious diseases and one health; Current and Emerging Zoonotic threats and Prevention to Management of One Health. The session on ‘Resisting the microbial resistance’ had deliberations on myths and truth of antimicrobial resistance with the human health, animal healthcare and environment perspective. The panelists for session included Mr Jaideep Gogtay, Cipla; Mr Rajesh Bhatia, FAO; Chand Wattal, Sri Ganga Ram Hospital; Dr Criag Alter, Cornell University; Dr V.K. Shankar, Bayer ; Dr Nitin Bhatia, Intas; Dr. D. J. Kalita, Zydus and Dr. D. K. Dey, President, INFAH.
Ms. Pushpa Vijayaraghavan, Director Sathguru Management Consultants, and Summit emphasised that the Interconnections of human health, animal health, food and environment can no longer be ignored and the idea of the “One Health Concept” is in essence, to appreciate the wealth of opportunity that lies in the interface area of this triad, which could be capitalised on, to protect the health of our planet as a whole.
Dr. D. K. Dey from INFAH chaired the inaugural session and highlighted the role of Animal Health Industry in maintaining healthy animals and healthier humans and thereby contributing towards healthy environment and healthy globe.
As the first multi-stakeholder “One Health Summit” in India provided a strong foundation for an India centric discussion and conceptualisation of actionable solutions. The summit focused on the following key themes that were identified as critical in the Indian context were the rising alarm from Antimicrobial Resistance, emerging zoonotic diseases and food safety. The position paper on “acknowledging challenges and paving the way forward” was also released. The summit has laid the foundation for more sectorial alliances and multiple disciplinary approach to address the national concerns.
