India needs strong One Health approach to tackle future pandemics: ICMR Chief

NEW DELHI: India needs a robust One Health approach and effective measures to combat future pandemics, said Dr Rajiv Bahl, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICDR) & Secretary, Department of Health Research (DHR).

He said this while speaking at VIROCON 2025, a three-day international conference organized recently by the ICMR-National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, in collaboration with the NIV Research Foundation and the Indian Virological Society (IVS).

The event, themed "Changing Landscapes in Human, Animal and Plant Viruses: Bridging Basic Science, Innovation and Public Health," brought together experts to address emerging viral threats and innovations in virology.

"VIROCON is a very important meeting where I believe that academia, institutes of national importance, the National Institute of Virology, as well as industry, together deliberate on how to do surveillance and contribute to the development of countermeasures so that we are better prepared for any future outbreak or pandemic," Bahl said.

"Most pandemics over the past 100 years have been viral and zoonotic in nature, underscoring the need for a coordinated one-health approach," he added, while calling for the development of effective countermeasures for future pandemic preparedness. (IANS)

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