The One Health Hub Pakistan (OHHP) serves as a networking and coordination centre that helps to connect government-sector people with individuals in non-government organisations that are involved in One Health activities in Pakistan. The OHHP provides a framework to support collaboration between the public health and animal health sectors for projects by providing tools for networking, communication, and resource sharing.
November 18, 2013
National Agricultural Research Center (NARC), Islamabad, Pakistan
The 2013 Pakistan National One Health Symposium was held on November 18, 2013 at the Main Auditorium of the National Agricultural Research Council in Islamabad. The Symposium formally recognised the Pakistan achievements in One Health over the four years of the World Bank/Massey University project entitled 'Regional Training in Animal and Human Health Epidemiology in South Asia' and provided a national forum to communicate technical disease updates and surveillance information on zoonotic disease occurrence across the country.
A One Health project focusing on zoonotic disease surveillance is being undertaken jointly by the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) and the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad.
A major outbreak of measles has been occurring in Pakistan during 2013. The disease is most prevalent during October through December and the southern province of Sindh is at particularly high risk at the moment as a result of significant flooding events that have recently occurred there.
National and provincial ‘One-Health’ teams in Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provinces are conducting a study investigating the seroprevalence and risk factors associated with Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) and brucellosis in human and livestock populations. Currently, the Baluchistan team is well on track to get all their blood sampling and epidemiological data collection completed by the end of October, with 185 of 240 households having already been sampled.
Four butchers in Haripur have died after being infected with Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever virus (CCHF) in September 2013. The butchers lost their lives after they slaughtered and handled the meat of an infected sheep that was bought from a local animal market.
In a move to lower the risk of dengue infection in Punjab Province, the Punjab Fisheries Department are declaring war against the mosquito vector for the dengue virus by releasing tilapia fish into public and private waterways.
In October 2013, a series of meetings were held in each of the countries involved in the One Health Regional Training Program aimed at increasing the visibility of and further strengthening the One Health Hubs. The One Health Hubs serve to embrace and show-case both government-led and other cross-sectoral One Health activities and achievements in each participating country and the organisational and operational structures that have been developed to support these.
From 1 January to 9 June 2013, a total of 16 suspected cases of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), including six deaths (case–fatality rate 37.5%) were reported from Pakistan.
