The Health department in Kerala is exploring the possibilities of expanding the One Health programme to Kozhikode.
One Health is a multidisciplinary approach conceived by the World Health Organization to prevent, predict, detect, and respond to health threats while balancing and optimising the health of people, animals, and the environment. This is in the wake of the recurring episodes of the Nipah infection, a zoonotic disease that can be transmitted naturally from animals to humans, here. So far, cases have been reported in the district in 2018, 2021, and 2023.
The department has been implementing the programme in the State with the support of the World Bank. Right now, Pamba river basin districts such as Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, and Idukki are being covered on a pilot basis as part of the Rebuild Kerala Initiative and Nava Keralam Karma Padhathi-2. The Centre for One Health Kerala is responsible for managing it. State Health Systems Resource Centre-Kerala is the nodal agency.
