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.
“We are exploring the possibilities of either launching an independent project for Kozhikode or bringing it under One Health. An official sanction, however, is awaited,” a senior official associated with the programme told The Hindu on Wednesday.
The government claims that the project launch in May 2022 followed recurrent outbreaks of zoonotic diseases, including Nipah infection, H1N1, and the Kyasanur Forest Disease, during the past decade. There have been outbreaks of chikungunya and dengue as well.
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the vulnerabilities of any geography for future pandemics too. The government has highlighted the State’s large forest cover; high level of population density; large numbers of non-resident citizens and international travel; an ageing population whose life expectancy is 10 years higher compared with the rest of India; and two-thirds of its population aged 45 or above suffering from comorbidities. The key features of the programme, according to the department, are sustained community surveillance of unusual events that could trigger zoonotic diseases; early detection of suspected outbreaks; and effective community-based participatory interventions to reduce risk factors to prevent and contain the spread of such diseases.
