Calls for universities to adopt ‘One Health’ approach

Kerala State Higher Education Council Vice-Chair P M Rajan Gurukkal has urged universities to align their academic programmes with the ‘One Health’ approach, writes Sarath Babu George for The Hindu.

Gaining traction in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the threat of other zoonotic diseases to global health, the multi-sectoral concept involves a scientific study of human-animal-environmental interactions. The approach came into public discourse after its presentation in the Tripartite Zoonoses Guide that was jointly developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization, World Health Organization and World Organisation for Animal Health in 2019.

“Efforts by just one sector cannot prevent the problem. The onus is on all sectors including public health, animal health, plant health and the environment to ensure their professionals, be it doctors, scientists, environmental engineers, urban planners or natural resource managers, were aware that same microbes infect animals and humans in the shared ecosystems. They must be insightful into linkages between the ‘One-Health Approach’ and the current techno-economic developments,” he said.
Full report on The Hindu site