{"id":240254,"date":"2023-04-29T20:03:38","date_gmt":"2023-04-29T14:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=240254"},"modified":"2023-04-29T20:03:38","modified_gmt":"2023-04-29T14:33:38","slug":"how-to-make-india-pandemic-proof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/how-to-make-india-pandemic-proof\/","title":{"rendered":"How to make India pandemic proof"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Source-<\/strong> The post is based on the article \u201cHow to make India pandemic proof\u201d published in \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d on 29th April 2023.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Syllabus: <\/strong>GS2- Issues relating to development and management of health<\/p>\n<p><strong>Relevance<\/strong>&#8211; Issues related to pandemic<\/p>\n<p><strong>News<\/strong>&#8211; Covid19 has exposed the weaknesses in the world\u2019s health systems.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are the pandemic threats for the world?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Climate change is giving rise to <strong>new pathogens<\/strong>.<strong> Zoonotic diseases<\/strong> are spilling over from animals to humans, causing over a million deaths each year.<\/p>\n<p>A silent pandemic is waiting to happen. It is <strong>antibiotic resistance. <\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are steps taken by India to prepare itself for the next pandemic?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In October 2021, India launched its flagship programme to prevent, prepare and respond to pandemics. It is the <strong>Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It seeks to fill the <strong>gaps in health systems and institutions<\/strong> at both the national and state level. It will need to be <strong>overseen at the highest levels.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>India has also brought several ministries \u2014 including health, animal husbandry, forests, and biotechnology \u2014 under the Principal Scientific Advisor. This was one of the major shortcomings during the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>More recently, the foundation for the <strong>National Institute for One Health<\/strong> in Nagpur was laid. The institute will identify <strong>hotspots for endemic and emerging zoonotic diseases. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>India is now <strong>augmenting surveillance<\/strong> in 20 cities. Municipal corporations are mandated to identify the most vulnerable areas and provide early alerts.\u00a0 India is also expanding its <strong>network of research laboratories <\/strong>to cover all <strong>respiratory viruses of unknown origin. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After the 2015 MERS outbreak, South Korea used <strong>mobile technology and Big Data<\/strong> to trace contacts and built a strong capacity for diagnosis. India has also begun these exercises.<\/p>\n<p>The clinical trial network set up under the <strong>National Biopharma Mission<\/strong> is a positive step toward improving <strong>access to affordable new vaccines and drug<\/strong>s. Similarly, the ICMR\u2019s initiative to establish a<strong> biorepository for clinical samples<\/strong> will be a national and global asset.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the way forward to counter the threat of future pandemic?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The need of the hour is a holistic <strong>\u201cOne Health\u201d approach<\/strong> that addresses the health of people, animals and ecosystems together.<\/p>\n<p>The rise of new pathogens has highlighted the <strong>importance of genomic surveillance.<\/strong> There is a need for wider testing of wastewater and samples from incoming ships and aircraft. These surveillance systems will also need to be extended to other South Asian countries.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Antibiotic resistance<\/strong> will have to be tracked and <strong>powerful awareness campaigns<\/strong> are needed to promote their rational use.<\/p>\n<p>For surveillance, private hospitals and clinics will need to be brought under a <strong>common platform <\/strong>and data placed in the public domain. The<strong> Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission <\/strong>can facilitate this.<\/p>\n<p>In villages,<strong> strong partnerships<\/strong> will be needed with communities, dairy cooperatives, and the poultry industry to identify new infections.<\/p>\n<p>During the pandemic, Indian manufacturers produced vaccines, test kits, therapeutics, masks and other items at very<strong> competitive prices<\/strong>. The<strong> partnerships <\/strong>between research bodies and manufacturers will need to be <strong>sustained and enhanced.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source- The post is based on the article \u201cHow to make India pandemic proof\u201d published in \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d on 29th April 2023. Syllabus: GS2- Issues relating to development and management of health Relevance&#8211; Issues related to pandemic News&#8211; Covid19 has exposed the weaknesses in the world\u2019s health systems. What are the pandemic threats for&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/how-to-make-india-pandemic-proof\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">How to make India pandemic proof<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10500],"class_list":["post-240254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}