The School of Public Health and Zoonoses, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana has initiated Post-graduate Diploma program in ‘One Health’ from the ongoing academic year 2020-21. 'One Health' is the collaborative effort of multiple health science professions, working locally, nationally and globally to attain optimal health for people, domestic animals, wildlife, plants, and environment. The Post-graduate Diploma programme is of one-year duration and has been designed in distance learning mode. A total of ten candidates with diverse professional backgrounds including veterinary officers, medical professionals, researchers and academicians from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have enrolled for this diploma course.
Dr Rabinder Singh Aulakh, Director, School of Public Health and Zoonoses expressed his heartfelt thanks to the Vice-Chancellor and the University Officials for their all-round support for materializing this programme. Dr. Aulakh emphasized the need for a collaborative, multisectoral and trans disciplinary approach for solving the emerging public health issues of modern era and also highlighted the importance of the ‘One-Health’ concept especially during these unprecedented times of COVID-19 pandemic. He interacted with the participants on the important issues of One Health and motivated them for being the proponents of One Health drive, Dr. Aulakh also congratulated Dr. Jasbir Singh Bedi, Course Director, for taking all the efforts to initiate this much needed diploma program. Dr. Bedi described that diploma programme comprises of eight study modules related to One Health including applied research activities on various public health issues such as zoonoses, food safety, climate change, antibiotic resistance etc. The course will help in the development of scientific attitude to understand cross-sectoral evidence-based solutions for health risks at the animal–human–environment interface. Further, this multidisciplinary programme will open an array of opportunities for the participants in various public health sectors at national and international fronts.
Dr. Inderjeet Singh, Vice-Chancellor GADVASU appreciated the initiative taken by School of Public Health and Zoonoses and highlighted that this diploma course will help in capacity building and human resource development to counter the emerging public health threats in more coordinated and effective way.
