The Union government has drawn up the country’s first animal pandemic response plan in collaboration with the World Bank, which will be implemented as a central government scheme to deal with outbreaks such as the devastating lumpy skin disease among cattle in 2021-2022, an official said. It will also enhance the government’s capacity to monitor diseases that jump from animals to humans, such as Covid-19.
The programme seeks to ramp up surveillance, treatment and diagnostics infrastructure across 151 districts in five states with a federal funding of ₹1,229 crore, according details of the scheme to be launched on Friday by Union minister of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying, Parshottam Rupala.
India has one of the largest national livestock populations in the world at 536.76 million, according to the livestock census, 2019, and is a key source of income of nearly 80 million farmers. Livestock accounts for 30% of the country’s gross value added, or GVA, in the farm sector. GVA is a measure of income that subtracts net taxes from gross domestic product, or GDP.
In 2022, the country battled a lumpy skin disease outbreak, which is estimated to have killed or emaciated nearly 300,000 cattle, hurting milk production and farm incomes.
Officially named the “Animal Pandemic Preparedness Initiative”, the programme will focus on prevention of outbreaks, especially zoonotic diseases, or infections caused by microorganisms that jump from animals to humans. Ebola and Sars are examples of zoonotic diseases; Covid-19 is most likely one too.
The programme will create an “integrated disease reporting system for enhanced surveillance of zoonotic and other animal diseases”, according to the details of the scheme.
Funds will also go into upgrading 75 district and regional laboratories, 300 veterinary hospitals and training of 9,000 para veterinarians, apart from recruiting 5,500 veterinary professionals. The programme will also address health risk of humans from such diseases, the person cited above said.
Although the lumpy skin disease is not known to infect humans, Indian scientists have said they were worried about such a possibility. “Due to its recent spread in unnatural hosts, there are growing concerns about its zoonotic implication, although confirmatory evidences of human infection are lacking,” an ICAR statement said in October 2022.
The programme will aid development of disease-modelling algorithms, early warning systems, R&D on vaccines, and build “genomic and environmental surveillance methods”.
“The emphasis is to build a strong animal health system, essential to animal, human health and food security, apart from its importance in the overall economy. It is also key to protecting livelihoods and addressing threats from emerging infectious diseases,” the official added.
The scheme will also include awareness campaigns on prevention of zoonotic diseases and pandemic preparedness at community level by directly reaching out to 600,000 households in the first phase, the official cited above said.
“Prevention of animal infections, especially large outbreaks, has become all the more important due to greater risks to humans today compared to even half a century ago,” said Rupesh Oza, a former regional director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). “Climate change is one of the factors for increased risks of emergent diseases.”
