A five-day workshop on Epi-Biostat began at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir’s Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Shuhama on Monday with an aim to develop a roadmap for institutionalising One Health in J&K.
One Health is an approach that recognizes that the health of people is closely connected to the health of animals and the shared environment. Though the concept of One Health is not new, but it has become more important in recent years post COVID19.
The workshop, ‘Epi-Biostat: Integrating Epidemiology and Biostatistics for Implementation Research and Policy Planning in One Health’ is organised by the university’s Division of Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine under the World Bank-ICAR funded National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) for the institutional development of SKUAST-K.
Renowned international experts in the field of One Health, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, including Dr Siobhan Mor, Reader (One Health), University of Liverpool, Dr Parvez Koul, Director SKIMS; Dr BR Gulati, Director ICAR-NIVEDI, Dr Salim Khan, Head Community Medicine, GMC Srinagar delivered the special talks and participated in the inaugural function of the workshop.
Vice Chancellor, SKUAST-K, Prof Nazir A Ganai, who was the chief guest at the inaugural function, said there are enormous challenges in human and animal health, which can be only addressed if all the stakeholders come together and work in collaboration.
He said with that purpose SKUAST-K has come up with an idea to establish the ‘School of One Health’ which will address the issues of human, animal, and ecosystem health.
Director, SKIMS, Soura, Parvez A Koul, while underscoring the importance of establishing the School of One Health, complimented SKUAST-K for organising the event that combines epidemiology and biostatics. He stressed the need for capacity-building in epidemiology and biostatics and data handling in disease informatics.
Dr Siobhan Mor gave a detailed insight in the spread and prevention of Zoonotic diseases. She further talked about the exploration of joint research and academic opportunities between SKUAST-K and University of Liver Pool, UK.
Dr Saleem from GMC talked about the prevention of Zoonosis and antimicrobial resistance. He said SKUAST-K and GMC must collaborate to allow students from one institution to attend the other particularly related to the fields of community medicine.
Dr Gulati from ICAR briefed the audience the need for collaborative work to make the One Health programme successful in the absence of the required number of bio-epidemiologists and statisticians.
Prof Dil Mohmad Makhdoomi, Director Extension elaborated the interdependence of various components of ecosystem like air, water, soil animals, plants and humans.
A multi-institution MoU between SKUAST-K, SKIMS Soura, GMC Srinagar and ICAR-NIVEDI was also signed at the occasion to collaborate on academic and research endeavours in One Health.
