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The central government will create a national action plan for the prevention and control of zoonotic diseases. Under this new plan, it will be decided which department will do what and when in order to prevent, detect on time, and control the spread of zoonotic diseases in the country in the coming days. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has already started preparations for the plan.
According to the ministry, the proposed national action plan will include all aspects like governance system, disease surveillance system, strengthening laboratories, disaster preparedness, quick response to disease outbreaks, public awareness, research, innovation, monitoring, and financial arrangements. Based on this, states and union territories will also be able to prepare their own state-level action plans as per their needs.
According to Prof. (Dr.) Ranjan Das, Director of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) will also be further strengthened so that potential epidemics and diseases can be detected quickly. This will help in taking prompt action in time to prevent the outbreak from spreading.
Focus on One Health Program
The government has launched two new technical resources under the national 'One Health' program. These are a learning resource package and e-learning modules on 10 priority zoonotic diseases. The aim of these resources is to provide better training for doctors, veterinarians, public health officials, and other frontline workers.
Dr. Rakesh Gupta, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Health, said that zoonotic diseases still pose a major public health, animal health, and economic challenge for India and the world. That is why the central government is working on better coordination between different ministries, modern surveillance systems, a strong lab network, trained healthcare workers, digital technology, and evidence-based decision-making.
The government has prioritized these diseases and included zoonotic diseases like Nipah, Mpox, Rabies, Leptospirosis, Scrub Typhus, Zika Virus infection, Anthrax, Brucellosis, Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), and Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) in the learning resource package. AI and digital technology will be used. The ministry also held a meeting with experts to discuss the draft national action plan in detail. In this, the experts told the government to strengthen disease surveillance through the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP 2.0), set up more sentinel surveillance centers, expand the lab network, and share data between different departments in a timely manner. Besides this, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technology should also be used to help detect diseases early and develop the ability to predict potential outbreaks in the future. According to the ministry, these suggestions will be included in the final national action plan.
The government believes that this step will strengthen India's healthcare system and also help handle situations like pandemics better in the future.
What are zoonotic diseases?
A zoonotic disease is an infectious disease that spreads from animals to humans. They are caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites, or fungi. Usually, these diseases can spread through direct contact, contaminated food/water, or bites from carriers like mosquitoes.
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