National One Health Mission

 National One Health Mission

GS PAPER 2

THE HINDU EDITORIAL ANALYSIS

• Approval and Endorsement: The Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) endorsed the setup of the National One Health Mission in July 2022. Since then, 13 Ministries and Departments, along with science funding agencies, have been involved in shaping the mission.
• Establishment of National Institute for One Health: A National Institute for One Health is being set up in Nagpur to serve as the anchor for coordinating activities nationally and internationally in the space of one health.

Goals of the Mission

• Integrated Disease Surveillance: Developing strategies for integrated disease surveillance, joint outbreak response, coordinated research and development (R&D), and seamless information sharing.
• Focus on R&D: Prioritizing strong R&D efforts to develop vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for emerging diseases.
• Collaboration Across Departments and Sectors: Various government departments, academic centers, and the private sector play key roles in making the mission a reality.

Network of Laboratories

• National Network of High-Risk Pathogen Labs: Creation of a national network of BSL 3 and BSL 4 laboratories to improve disease outbreak response across human, animal, and environmental sectors.
• Resource Utilization and Coordination: Better resource utilization and cross-sector coordination for tackling diseases involving multiple hosts, such as Nipah.

Advances in Epidemiology and Data Analytics

• AI and Machine Learning: Efforts to apply AI, machine learning, and disease modeling for better epidemiology and data analysis across sectors.
• Genomic Surveillance: Expansion of genomic surveillance from wastewater to other sentinels such as animal congregations to enhance routine surveillance across human, livestock, and environmental sectors.

Global Implications

• International Collaboration: Emphasized during India's G-20 presidency, with global endorsement to work together on building better surveillance capacity, analytic capability, and setting up an international network of One Health institutes.
• Broader Focus: One Health covers not just diseases, but also topics like antimicrobial resistance, food safety, plant diseases, and the impact of climate change.
• Intersectoral Collaboration: Requires engagement from governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, academia, the private sector, and citizens.