World Environmental Health Day

In News

• Recently, World Environment Health Day was celebrated on September 26 which called for an urgent need to strengthen the One Health approach.

About World Environmental Health Day

• The theme for this World Environment Health Day is: Strengthening Environmental Health Systems for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
  • There are 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations to be achieved by 2030.
• Challenges posed by Pandemic
  • Climate change could facilitate the cross-species transmission of some 4,000 viruses by 2070, a 2022 study published in Nature journal found.

What is One Health approach? 

• WHO defines it as: an integrated, unifying approach to balance and optimise the health of people, animals and the environment. 
• The aim is to have a multi-sectoral approach to achieve long-term, effective solutions to issues surrounding food and water safety, nutrition, controlling zoonoses, pollution management, and combating antimicrobial resistance. 
• It is important in preventing, predicting, detecting, and responding to global health threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• One Health Quadripartite: The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) work together with WHO to form the One Health Quadripartite.

Benefits of One Health

• Reduce potential threats at the human-animal-environment interface to control diseases that spread between animals and humans
• Tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
• Ensure food safety
• Prevent environment-related health threats to humans and animals
• Protect biodiversity.

Issues associated with One Health

• The concept is in a very nascent stage (not yet completely developed) in India with sporadic efforts in some states.
• Wildlife surveillance has been the biggest lacunae according to Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE).
• Institutes for high-security animal disease, virology and epidemiology exist but only in silos which runs counter to the concept of One Health.
• A weak biosafety process also hinders India’s One Health programme, barring a largely reactive approach.
• The Indian Council of Medical Research and the Department of Biotechnology are the agencies responsible for the biosafety process but it needs to be more standardised as it remains highly sectoral.
• Bats, primates and rodents have the highest potential to harbour pathogens that can infect humans. Those who handle these don’t always follow the necessary biosafety protocols.
• There is also a severe shortage of biosafety labs in India with only one biosafety level (BSL) 4 lab, the highest level of biosecurity, generally used for extremely infectious viruses like Ebola at the National Institute of Virology in Pune. 
• Investment on this front is critical in preventing pandemics, particularly so in biodiversity-rich parts of India such as the Himalayas, the north-east region, Western Ghats and central India.
• The National Standing Committee on Zoonoses lacked representation from the wildlife sector and had unclear guidelines and the National Influenza Pandemic committee was disease-specific and only for the duration of the pandemic. 

India’s approach towards One Health

• The first One Health consortium was launched in 2021
  • It was led by the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad, constituting 27 organisations.
• Pradhan Mantri Atma Nirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojna 
  • Under the scheme, the first One Health institute is set to come up in Nagpur.
• Budgetary Allocations
  • Over Rs 64,000 crore were earmarked for the scheme in the 2021-22 Union Budget for over six years to combat new and emerging diseases. 
• The Integrated Disease Surveillance Project
  • It was launched in 2004 for disease outbreak detection and rapid response functions, has generated several information on flow of certain disease outbreaks but the programme has been unable to integrate human and animal (livestock and wildlife) surveillance.

Suggestions/ Way forward

• An absolute necessity: With the possibility of reducing a quarter of the global disease burden by ensuring healthier environments, as per the global health body, a One Health approach is an absolute necessity. 
• Pandemic-preparedness plans are already under consideration among major international bodies to thwart pandemic in the future. 
• Potential solutions to these problems can only be understood when human, animal, and environmental health questions are evaluated in an integrated and holistic manner rather than in siloed approaches. 
• The One Health concept is not new but its importance to address the complex health and environmental challenges has become more prominent in recent years.

Source: DTE