Working towards animal health

Source: The post is based on the article “Working towards animal health” published in The Hindu on 2^nd August 2022.

Syllabus: GS 2 Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health.

Relevance: To understand the concept of animal health.

News: COVID-19 have put the spotlight on the need to create greater collaborations and synergies between research on human health and animal health.

Why does India need to focus on animal health?

Increased animal husbandry: India has a livestock population of 1.6 billion and approximately 280 million farmers rely on livestock and related industries for livelihood. In the current atmosphere of climate change and unpredictable weather, animal husbandry assumes significance as a source of reliable income for farmers.

In India, the annual outbreak of zoonotic diseases translates into an estimated annual loss of $12 billion to the economy.

The volume of Trade: The dairy industry in the country is valued at $160 billion, while the meat industry is valued at $50 billion.

Protection of Wildlife: Livestock and related activities have significant overlap with wildlife and humans.

Increase in Zoonotic disease: The world witnessed around 9,580 instances of disease outbreaks from 2000 to 2010, of which 60% of diseases were zoonotic in nature.

Hence, even though animal diseases do not affect human health directly, they are responsible for huge consequences to farmers, exports and gross domestic product (GDP) growth nationally.

What are the challenges in addressing animal health?

a) Health policies are largely been human-centric, leaving a large unaddressed gap for diseases of pandemic potential in animals, b) Synergies from advances in human vaccines have not been leveraged in animal vaccine development.

How India is promoting animal health?

Firstly, the department of Animal Husbandry has been working towards increased investment in preparedness to protect health and building economic resilience so that India could become a world leader in animal pandemic preparedness.

Secondly, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) has set up a dedicated ‘One Health Unit’ in collaboration with the Gates Foundation. One of the primary focus areas of the unit is to create an “animal pandemic preparedness” model by creating a mechanism for storage and seamless exchange of data and information on livestock health. This will be implemented through the National Digital Livestock Mission (NDLM).

The benefits of a successful model are, a) Seamless coordination with critical ecosystem partners to ensure the timely and successful development of animal drugs and vaccines, b) Enable the linking and comparison of real-time information regarding diseases between wildlife and human systems, c) A reliable mechanism for forecasting disease outbreaks, and d) Present a good starting point to lead global pandemic preparedness effort because this is faced by other countries as well.

Thirdly, Companies can now avail of incentives for setting up or expansion of animal vaccines and related infrastructure under the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Fund.

Fourthly, DAHD in collaboration with the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), and others has set up an Empowered Committee for Animal Health to streamline the animal health regulatory ecosystem in the country.

Close collaboration is needed between veterinary science and human health experts to forge effective tools for pandemic preparedness.