Port Blair, May 01: ICAR-CIARI, Port Blair organized a one-day workshop on “Zoonoses: An Emerging Public Health Threat” as a part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahatsov on the auspicious occasion of “World Veterinary Day – 2022” on 30th April 2022.
World veterinary day is celebrated every year with the main objective to promote livestock health and welfare for sustainable production. This day highlights the significance of the contributions and achievements made by veterinary professionals for the growth and development of animal husbandry.
Dr. P Vijayachari, Director, ICMR-RMRC, Port Blair was the Chief Guest. Dr. Ajay Varma, Director (I/C), DAH & VS, A&N Administration and Dr. Avijit Roy, Deputy Director (Health) & Nodal Officer (COVID-19) were the Guest of Honor.
Dr. Eaknath B. Chakurkar, Director, ICAR-CIARI, Port Blair presided over the function. A total of 74 participants including Senior Veterinary Officers from DAHVS, Scientists and SMS from CIARI and KVK, farmers, stakeholders, and NGOs attended the programme.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. P. Vijayachari, congratulated the Director, CIARI for organizing such an important workshop on zoonoses which is the need of the hour in the present context. He stressed upon the concept of implementing a One Health programme to control and contain the risk of emerging and remerging diseases from these Islands.
He also highlighted the role of ICMR in the control of leptospirosis from these Islands. He wished all the veterinarians and other stakeholders related to the profession who are working for the welfare of the livestock for sustainable production.
Dr. Eaknath B. Chakurkar in his address signifies the role of Veterinarians in playing a crucial role in public health, particularly one health approach to understanding the dynamics and epidemiology of zoonotic diseases. He appreciated the veterinarians who are working directly with the farming community and stressed creating awareness about zoonotic diseases to curb the impact on public health.
Dr. Avijit Roy presented the history, current status and preventive and control measures to be adopted against COVID-19 in the A&N Islands. He advised following the COVID appropriate behavior and all the protocols issued by the GoI to fight against the menace of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Ajay Varma delivered a presentation on awareness of zoonotic diseases and briefed about the common zoonotic diseases associated with livestock and poultry and their preventive measures.
A special lead lecture was presented by Dr. S. B. Barbuddhe, Director, ICAR-NRC on Meat, Hyderabad on “Meat Borne Zoonotic Diseases” online. He presented an overview of the common diseases transmitted through meat and food. He also emphasized the clean meat
production as well as scientific processing of the meat and food to prevent the foodborne and meat borne zoonotic diseases.
On this occasion, nine successful livestock and poultry farmers were felicitated for their significant achievements in entrepreneurship development in a mini incubator for rural poultry production, scientific rural poultry, goat and pig farming.
The farmers shared their stories about the hard work of their journey to reach the present heights. Quiz competition for the farmers on ‘livestock farming’ was also organized wherein farmers actively participated. The programmme was coordinated by Dr. D. Bhattacharya, Dr. Jai Sunder, Dr. T. Sujatha and Dr. A.K. De.