India will showcase two new initiatives – the Animal Pandemic Preparedness Initiative (APPI) and the World Bank-funded Animal Health System Support for One Health (AHSSOH), at a side event of the G20 Health Working Group meeting scheduled to be held on April 20 in Goa.
According to Rajesh Kumar Singh, secretary, department of animal husbandry and dairying, APPI aims at tracking animal diseases through large-scale digital surveillance, bring synergies in advancement in vaccines for human beings and institutionalise targeted early response to animal and human health emergencies.
Singh said that there are reports of death of 0.18 million cattle population due to lumpy skin disease (LSD) reported last year amongst the cattle population across 13 states. “Around 90 million cattle have been vaccinated so far against the LDS,” he said.
Currently the death of cattles due to LSD has been negligible, an official with the animal husbandry department said.
The AHSSOH project of Rs 1,228 crore which is jointly funded by World Bank will initially be implemented in Assam, Odisha, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Singh said that AHSSOH projects aims to strengthen 75 district laboratories, provide 100 mobile veterinary units in remote locations and high-risk areas, and upgrade 300 dispensaries and hospitals besides training 5,500 veterinarians as well as 9,000 private diagnostic professionals.
“The project will develop an ecosystem for continuous training of veterinarians and para-veterinarians on innovative disease management practices apart from networking laboratories and integrating disease reporting systems for enhanced surveillance of zoonotic and other animal diseases,” according to an official note.
The side event at G20 is being organised by Asian Development Bank and UN Environment Programme in collaboration with the ministry of health and family welfare. The event will be attended by the minister for fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying Parshottam Rupala along with senior officials.
Both the projects will be launched on April 14 , under the concept of ‘one health’, recognising the connections between animal health, human health and the environment.
Since two-thirds of the infectious diseases affecting humans originate from animals, including the Covid-19 pandemic, the idea is to bring synergy among concerned ministries in addressing the health issues in a holistic manner, an official said.
