Waterborne Zoonotic Diseases and Antimicrobial Resistance: Indian Policy and Onehealth Approach

Waterborne zoonotic diseases such as Diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, Brucellosis cause heavy loss to the livestock farmers and cause growing health risk to the citizens and economy as exemplified by the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

The global Onehealth initiative aims to map and reduce the risk of zoonotic i.e. animal borne microbial diseases through an integrated approach to the human & livestock health. Preventive strategies such as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are vital and even herbal medicines can address the antimicrobial resistance (AMR), due to the overuse of the antibiotics.

We studied such integrated approach in the India focussed on 2 bacterial pathogens- Escherichia coli & Salmonella enterica, causing diarrhoea and gastroenteritis respectively at Pune city and in Dehradun District, Uttarakhand state. Our study using stakeholder consultations and literature survey indicated that (a) India has established draft national Onehealth mission, and is gearing up to meet the challenge, including initiatives such as by the Kerala state, (b) surveillance mechanism needs to be improved especially animal and water testing, reporting and tracking, in the less developed states such as in the Himalayas or central and eastern Indian forests, (c) public awareness campaign on WASH and AMR is needed for enhanced biosecurity as is observed at Pune, (d) Ministry of Jal Shakti (Water power), Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan, Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (UREDA) and Central Water Resource Ministry and biogas scheme/ non renewable energy department needs to be involved in livestock waste reuse for circular economy and reduce contamination risk.