Zoonotic diseases are infections transmitted from animals to humans, posing global health risks.

Soumya Swaminathan, former WHO Chief Scientist, emphasized key health challenges, including climate change and antimicrobial resistance, noting that most emerging viral threats are zoonotic infections transmitted from animals to humans.

Vembanad Lake Water Quality Assessed in New CMFRI Research Project

She was speaking after the launch of various initiatives undertaken as part of a major research project on water quality assessment of Vembanad Lake and waterborne infectious diseases at ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI).

Swaminathan, who is also the former Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), emphasized the critical role of integrated research, including data from weather, climate, health, and environmental sources, to predict and prevent future outbreaks.

“Half of Indians cannot afford a nutritionally sufficient healthy diet,” she added. Kerala and Tamil Nadu are experiencing a concerning rise in obesity and non-communicable diseases, alongside persistent issues like malnutrition, anemia, and micronutrient deficiencies, all stemming from unhealthy dietary habits, added the top scientist.

Emphasising the potential of marine resources as a healthy diet component to improve nutrition, she said: “We are yet to fully utilise these resources to address critical dietary issues. She underscored the devastating impact of climate change, saying that India is one of the most vulnerable countries to this challenge.”

Almost the entire population of the country is being exposed to at least one of the climate hazards such as floods, droughts, cyclones, and extreme heat. Heat is most dangerous to both physical and mental health. The weakest section of the society bears the brunt of these hazards,” she said.

“During COVID-19, I believe nobody anticipated the development of vaccines within a year. It was a remarkable achievement facilitated by unprecedented collaboration and data sharing among research institutions and scientists. During my time at the WHO, I witnessed first-hand this extraordinary level of networking and data sharing. Scientists prioritised the rapid dissemination of findings over individual publication which paid off ultimately,” said Swaminathan.

Referring to the challenge of information flooding, she said that in the digital age, misinformation is fast spreading across social media platforms which can hinder scientific progress and public health efforts.”This was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic when everybody disguised as ‘experts’ and offered advice to the people,” she said.

Source-IANS