Indian organisations present at the Launch event of ‘One Health Program’ to Address Critical Health Challenges included the Indian Council of Medical Research, India’s Centre for Disease Control, the World Health Organization’s India Country Office, IIT Delhi and PATH.
The University of Sydney’s commitment of AU$100,000 towards research with the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) will allow leading public health researchers in Australia and India to work together on pressing health issues including antibiotic resistance and the rise of infectious diseases. The new funding will see the 15-year relationship between the two institutions expand from training public health professionals to researching emerging health threats in both countries. The program will now focus on four areas: disease surveillance, antimicrobial resistance, innovation (including vaccine development), and continued training of the next generation of health professionals.
Professor Antoine van Oijen, Associate Dean (Research) at the University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health and PHFI President Sanjay Zodpey formalized the new partnership in New Delhi, India. Researchers from the University’s Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute also travelled to India to discuss how the two organizations can develop One Health initiatives — programs that consider the health of humans, the environment and animals in unison. Representatives from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Investment New South Wales also attended these discussions.
“We bring world class strengths in multidisciplinary research to this relationship. t’s an approach that sees engineers, physicians, veterinarians and scientists working together to solve public health and One Health issues,” said the University’s Associate Professor Shailendra Sawleshwarkar, who has also been affiliated with PHFI since 2009.
“PHFI’s capacity building program is creating a generation of health professionals that is second to none. Combined with India’s excellent reputation in pharmaceutical manufacturing, the workforce being built by PHFI is making India a global force in public health. While the details of this program are yet to be finalised, this partnership will bring people with a breadth of knowledge to the table,” said Professor van Oijen.
Professor Jamie Triccas, Associate Professor Navneet Dhand, Dr Jocelyne Basseal, Associate Professor Shailendra Sawleshwarkar, Associate Professor Victoria Brookes, Professor Wojciech Chrzanowski, Dr Carola Venturini from the School of Veterinary Sciences and Dr John-Sebastian Eden from the University of Sydney met with PHFI counterparts to discuss potential collaborations.
Professor Zodpey said, “Our expertise on the use of antibiotics in animals to pathogen genomics, One Health surveillance and the development of novel vaccines to treat increasingly prevalent diseases like Japanese encephalitis, are all highly complementary with the depth of public health experience at the Public Health Foundation of India. In India, PHFI delivers the most relevant public health research and education programs. This extension of our relationship will bring the strengths of our two organizations, and our two countries, together, providing the launching pad for what I hope will be an enduring partnership of global standing.”
