TAWANG, 6 Feb: A capacity building workshop on integrated disease surveillance was conducted at the Khando Drowa Sangmo District Hospital auditorium here in Tawang district on Friday.
The workshop was organised by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) under the National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS)-funded initiative titled ‘Protecting Himalayan health: Landscape-based disease surveillance in wildlife and exploring zoonotic hotspots through one health approach’.
Key stakeholders from the health, animal husbandry & veterinary and forest sectors, the district administration, and research institutions attended the workshop.
Addressing the participants, Additional Deputy Commissioner Rinchin Leta said that the eastern Himalayan region, particularly border districts like Tawang, faces unique public health and ecological challenges.
“Initiatives such as this integrated disease surveillance workshop are timely and extremely relevant in strengthening our preparedness against emerging zoonotic diseases,” he added.
ZSI Scientist-D Dr Mukesh Thakur in his address emphasised the need for integrated surveillance systems linking human health, livestock health, wildlife monitoring, and environmental data to enable early warning and rapid response mechanisms in the eastern Himalayas.
Attending the workshop, many other speakers, including District Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Tenzin Kunga, underscored the growing relevance of coordinated disease surveillance in high-altitude border districts where human, livestock, and wildlife interfaces are rapidly changing.
The technical sessions focused on introducing the One Health Mission, regional disease surveillance challenges, veterinary and public health perspectives, and the development of standardised data-sharing tools for integrated surveillance. (DIPRO)
