TN Health department issues GO to set up One Health and Climate Change Hub

CHENNAI: The state health department has issued government orders to set up a “One Health and Climate Change Hub” to address human, animal, and environmental health challenges in the face of climate change. The initiative is aimed at addressing the various impacts of climate change in Tamil Nadu.

As part of the programme, a state-of-the-art center for surveillance of the rising cases of zoonotic diseases and vector-borne diseases is also planned. The cases of heat stroke and heat stress also warrant the need of regular monitoring. The surveillance of respiratory illnesses would also be done as part of One Health.

The State-wide surveillance system will help to develop early warning mechanism and formulate responses to mitigate these diseases and prevent outbreaks. As part of the initiative, the department plans to promote research and develop in innovative solutions towards the same, and encourage community participation.

With Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) incidence is seeing a spike, making it a challenge to treat infections, the One Health committee would work on a framework to discuss measures to combat AMR. The One Health Committee is to meet next month to discuss the same.

The use of Artificial Intelligence for developing predictive models using Al would also be done to assess future disease trends based on climate scenarios. This would be focussed on tribal populations and coastal areas. Expert opinions would be included to discuss the predictive models.

The One Health and Climate Change Hub would also develop standard operating procedures, training modules, and community engagement resources for guiding government programmes and spreading awareness and educating the masses. These resources would incorporate best National and International practices into One Health programme.