Protecting human, animal and environmental health

Context

One Health is a holistic approach that considers connections between the health of humans, animals and the environment. It focuses on the entire system in which diseases can develop and spread.

India has a high population density, a large number of farm animals and very diverse wildlife. This results in a high risk for the spread of zoonotic diseases, meaning illnesses transferred from animals to people. Furthermore, general environmental conditions such as water, air and soil quality are highly significant for human and animal health.

To minimise these risks, the responsible parties must work together across various areas.

Objective

Indian institutions cooperate more effectively to reduce risks to human, animal and environmental health.

Approach

The project improves the institutional framework in India and imparts the skills needed to reduce risks to human, animal and environmental health. To this end, it works with the Indian Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) as well as other relevant ministries and local stakeholders. The project demonstrates the effectiveness of the One Health approach in tandem with agroecological measures via pilot measures in various states.

The project uses the following approaches:

1. It promotes cooperation among the relevant Indian ministries and interest groups regarding health topics.
2. It supports knowledge management and capacity development pertaining to One Health and agroecology by developing and improving lesson plans and One Health modules in cooperation with Indian training institutions.
3. It conducts pilot measures in which people from various areas work together to jointly reduce risks to human, animal and environmental health in selected regions. The lessons learned from these pilot measures will then be used to disseminate successful approaches.

Last update: June 2023