One Health Approach & Zoonotic Diseases (July 07, 2026) – Current Affairs Analysis

Imagine a three-legged stool. The legs represent human health, animal health, and our shared environment. Cut or weaken any single leg, and the entire stool crashes down. This simple analogy explains the core of the One Health approach. Today, global biosecurity policies and national public health strategies treat this concept not just as a theory, but as an active shield. Recent alarms from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Quadripartite alliance highlight the rapid mutation of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 clades. At the same time, South Asia faces recurring, localized spillovers of the deadly Nipah virus. These threats have forced governments to treat integrated human-animal-environmental surveillance as a core national security priority. In India, the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) leads this charge by driving the National One Health Mission (NOHM). Because over 65% of India’s population works directly in agriculture and animal husbandry, our communities live in constant, close contact with livestock and wildlife. When we disrupt ecosystems, practice intensive farming, or feel the heat of climate change, we directly trigger public health crises. Stopping zoonotic diseases before they jump to humans is no longer just a medical goal—it is a survival strategy for our economy, environment, and national security.

1. Detailed Context & Background

The Concept of One Health

The One Health High-Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP) defines the One Health approach as a collaborative, unifying effort to balance and optimize the health of people, animals, and ecosystems sustainably. Think of it as a web. Every thread—whether it represents a domestic dog, a forest canopy, a river system, or a human community—connects to the others. When one thread vibrates, the whole web reacts. By bringing together doctors, veterinarians, ecologists, and local communities, One Health tackles health threats at their source, fights Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), and secures a sustainable future.

To master this topic for your exams, you must understand how zoonotic diseases (zoonoses) operate. These infections jump naturally from vertebrate animals to humans. Pathogens like viruses, bacteria, parasites, or even unconventional proteins called prions cause these diseases. They enter the human population when you touch infected animals, consume contaminated food or water, breathe in contaminated air, or get bitten by vectors like ticks and mosquitoes.

Historical Evolution and Key Milestones

While ancient civilizations knew that human well-being depends on animal and environmental health, scientists only recently built a formal framework around this link. You can track this evolution through five milestone phases:

• The 19th Century (Rudolf Virchow): While studying the parasite Trichinella spiralis in pigs and humans, the German physician Rudolf Virchow coined the term “zoonosis.” He famously declared that no dividing line should exist between animal and human medicine.
• The 1970s (Calvin Schwabe’s “One Medicine”): In his book Veterinary Medicine and Human Health, epidemiologist Calvin Schwabe championed “One Medicine.” He urged universities to bridge human and veterinary sciences to tackle food safety and zoonotic threats together.
• The 2004 Manhattan Principles: The Wildlife Conservation Society hosted a conference where experts drafted 12 guiding principles. They introduced the phrase “One World, One Health,” which demanded unified surveillance, cross-disciplinary training, and wildlife protection to prevent outbreaks.
• The 2010 Tripartite Agreement: Three major international bodies—the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), and the WHO—signed a pact. They joined forces to fight rabies, antimicrobial resistance, and avian flus.
• The 2022 Transition to the Quadripartite: The alliance welcomed the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in March 2022, realizing that they could not ignore the environment. This new Quadripartite launched the One Health Joint Plan of Action (2022–2026), focusing on six critical areas: capacity building, emerging epidemics, tropical zoonoses, food safety, AMR containment, and environmental integration.

India’s National One Health Mission (NOHM)

To fix the fragmented way our government manages health, the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) designed the National One Health Mission (NOHM). In early 2024, the Union Cabinet created the post of Director of the National Institute of One Health (NIOH) in Nagpur, Maharashtra. This Director also steers the mission. Guided by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India, NOHM breaks down bureaucratic walls by coordinating work across 16 central ministries, including Health, Animal Husbandry, Environment, and Agriculture. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) leads implementation, using the Nagpur institute as the nerve center for tracking zoonotic pathogens nationwide.

2. Analytical Breakdown of Key Issues & Challenges

Point 1: Zoonotic Disease Burden and the Spillover Pipeline

Animals, especially wildlife, act as the source for roughly 60% of all known human infectious diseases and over 75% of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs). How do these pathogens reach us? They travel through a process called zoonotic spillover. For a virus to jump species, it must breach several natural defensive layers—ecological, behavioral, and immunological. Think of pristine forests as natural firewalls that keep pathogens contained. When humans cut down trees, build roads through jungles, poach wildlife, or trade wild meat, we smash these firewalls. We construct a virtual pipeline for diseases. If we place livestock farms right next to wildlife reserves, we create “bridging hosts.” For instance, domestic pigs or cattle graze near forest borders, catch viruses from bats or wild rodents, and pass them directly to agricultural workers. A spark in the wild becomes a raging fire in human communities.

Point 2: Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) as a Transsectoral Crisis

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) exposes the deep connections between sectors. In India, poultry and livestock farmers feed animals Critically Important Antimicrobials (CIAs) to make them grow faster or to prevent disease in crowded pens. This practice turns farms into breeding grounds for multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria. Think of antibiotics as shields and bacteria as smart enemies. When we expose these enemies to drugs constantly, they learn how to break the shields. These resistant superbugs—like bacteria carrying the colistin-resistant mcr-1 gene—leave the animals through manure. Rain washes this waste into agricultural runoff, soil, and drinking water. When you eat contaminated food, touch livestock, or drink contaminated water, you invite these superbugs into your body. This makes standard treatments for common infections like UTIs, pneumonia, and sepsis fail. Doctors run out of options, hospital stays grow longer, and death rates rise.

Point 3: The Ecological and Climate Change Linkage

Rising temperatures and shifting weather patterns redraw the maps for disease vectors like mosquitoes, ticks, and midges. Warmer climates allow these vectors to invade higher, cooler altitudes. You can see this today as Dengue and Chikungunya climb into the sub-Himalayan regions, extending their transmission seasons. At the same time, when we destroy biodiversity in hotspots like the Western Ghats, we dismantle a natural defense system called the dilution effect. In a healthy, diverse forest, vectors feed on many different species. Some of these species are dead-end hosts that cannot pass on the virus. This dilutes the pathogen’s strength. When we degrade these forests, delicate species disappear. Tough, resilient hosts like rodents and ticks take over. With fewer dead-ends, pathogens like Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) and Scrub Typhus spread rapidly from vectors to humans.

Point 4: Institutional Silos and Policy Fragmentation in India

Imagine a security team guarding a palace where the gatekeepers, the surveillance crew, and the patrol guards do not share the same radio frequency. If an intruder climbs the wall, the surveillance crew sees it but cannot alert the ground guards. India’s health administration operates in a similar communication vacuum. We split public, animal, and environmental health into isolated boxes. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) manages human patients. The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) cares for livestock. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) tracks wildlife, while the Ministry of Agriculture handles crops. Each department draws power from different, outdated laws: the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897, the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, and the Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Act of 2009. This fragmentation splits databases and blocks real-time sharing. Because veterinary clinics and human hospitals rarely synchronize diagnostic rules, we miss the early warning signs of a spillover until it is too late.

Point 5: The Economics of Prevention vs. Reactive Management

Think about the cost of a smoke detector versus rebuilding a burned house. The World Bank shows that preventive One Health systems offer a massive return on investment. A major pandemic like COVID-19 drains trillions of dollars from the global economy. By contrast, setting up strong, global One Health defenses costs only $10.3 billion to $11.5 billion annually. This budget would fund integrated disease tracking, boost veterinary labs, and protect forests. In India, where zoonotic outbreaks destroy cattle, wipe out poultry, threaten food security, and wreck rural incomes, we must stop playing catch-up. Shifting from reactive emergency-fighting to proactive prevention is the only financially sound path forward.

Major Zoonotic Diseases of Concern in India

3. Syllabus Linkage Table

To help you structure your study notes, here is how this topic aligns with the civil services syllabus:

4. Practice Prelims MCQ

Detailed Multi-Paragraph Explanation

Why Statement 1 is incorrect: To master the governance of the National One Health Mission (NOHM), you must distinguish between its two operational tiers. The government split these tiers to balance political authority and scientific expertise. The Executive Committee manages inter-ministerial policy coordination, approves programs, and allocates budgets. The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare chairs this committee, while the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) serves as the Vice-Chair. The Scientific Steering Committee, which directs research and development, validates diagnostics, and sets laboratory networking protocols, is the body chaired by the PSA. This operational distinction ensures that administrative authority is backed by political leadership while scientific research remains under the oversight of technical experts. The claim in Statement 1 is incorrect.

Why Statement 2 is correct: Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), or “monkey fever,” is a viral hemorrhagic disease endemic to the Western Ghats. The Kyasanur Forest Disease Virus (KFDV), from the Flaviviridae family, causes this illness. Humans contract the virus when infected larval or nymphal hard ticks (specifically Haemaphysalis spinigera) bite them. Monkeys (bonnet macaques and black-faced langurs) are highly susceptible hosts. Once infected, they die in large numbers. Keep in mind that monkeys do not pass the virus directly to humans. Instead, their sudden deaths in the forest serve as “sentinel” indicators. These deaths warn villagers and health workers that the virus is active in that sector. Small rodents, shrews, and birds remain the primary reservoirs. Statement 2 is correct.

Why Statement 3 is correct: The One Health Joint Plan of Action (2022–2026) is the first integrated global strategy for this approach. The Quadripartite—consisting of the FAO, UNEP, WHO, and WOAH—developed this plan. Before 2022, the group existed as a “Tripartite” without UNEP. Adding the UNEP in March 2022 completed the framework by bringing the environment and ecological pillars into the core strategy. The plan outlines six action tracks to predict, prevent, detect, and respond to global health crises. Statement 3 is correct.

5. Mains Practice Question & Model Answer Blueprint

Model Answer Structural Blueprint

I. Introduction (Approx. 50-60 words)

To write a high-scoring introduction, you should cover these points:

• Define the One Health Paradigm: State clearly that animals source over 60% of human pathogens and 75% of emerging diseases.
• Contextualize India’s Vulnerability: Detail how India’s dense human-animal interface, vast livestock population (536 million+), and fragile biodiversity hotspots (Western Ghats, Himalayas) create a perfect storm for zoonotic spillovers like Nipah, Kyasanur Forest Disease, and Avian Influenza.
• Introduce the NOHM: Present the National One Health Mission as the government’s primary vehicle to break down institutional walls.

II. Body Section 1: The Bottlenecks of Administrative Silos (Approx. 100-120 words)

Explain the administrative obstacles clearly to show the depth of your understanding:

• Data Fragmentation: Separate agencies store surveillance data in isolation. The Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) tracks human cases but does not talk to the National Animal Disease Referral Expert System (NADRES) or wildlife trackers. This isolation delays the warning when animal deaths occur before human outbreaks start.
• Asymmetric Funding & Capacity: Union and State budgets prioritize human hospitals and treatments over preventive animal healthcare. Veterinary services and wildlife research run on shoestring budgets, leaving rural areas without critical Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) or BSL-4 diagnostic labs.
• Jurisdictional Disputes: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) controls forest zones. Human and animal health departments struggle to run surveillance or control outbreaks inside these forests because they navigate separate laws like the Wildlife Protection Act and the Epidemic Diseases Act.

III. Body Section 2: Evaluating the National One Health Mission (NOHM) (Approx. 80-100 words)

Provide a balanced assessment of NOHM’s achievements and limitations:

• Unified Governance: NOHM, led by the Office of the PSA and driven by the ICMR and the NIOH in Nagpur, unites 16 ministries under one roof to share data and synchronize protocols.
• Joint R&D Programs: The mission finances combined research projects among the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), animal science universities, and medical institutes to hunt for new pathogens.
• Operational Challenges: Despite the mission’s vision, it lacks legislative backing, faces slow implementation at the state level, and suffers from a severe shortage of cross-trained medical and veterinary epidemiologists.

IV. Body Section 3: A Structural Roadmap & Way Forward (Approx. 100-120 words)

Suggest a clear, action-oriented plan to score high marks on the roadmap:

• Unified Digital Surveillance Portal: Merge IDSP, NADRES, and wildlife health databases into one real-time digital dashboard. Use artificial intelligence to flag unusual poultry deaths or wild bird mortalities to local medical officers instantly.
• Cross-Sectoral Capacity Building: Train medical officers, veterinarians, and forest rangers using shared modules and diplomas in One Health epidemiology to build local collaboration.
• Legislative Institutionalization: Pass a National Biosecurity and One Health Act. This law will give statutory powers to the National Institute for One Health, allowing it to issue binding orders to ministries during health crises.
• Community-led Surveillance: Empower forest dwellers, dairy cooperatives, and poultry farmers as first-line observers. Train them to spot and report unusual animal sickness, building a strong community defense system.
• Sustainable Financing: Set up a dedicated National One Health Fund to distribute resources fairly across human, veterinary, and environmental health sectors.