Pantnagar (The Hawk): The two days (30th & 31st August) “Vaccinators Training Program for Van Gujjar Community Members of US Nagar and Nainital” was jointly organized in College of Veterinary & Animal Science, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Pantnagar by One Health Support Unit of the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD)-Government of India, Chaudhary Charan Singh National Institute of Animal Health (CCSNIAH)-Baghpat and Animal Husbandry Department, Uttarakhand under the One-Health pilot project of Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India. The Program was held as part of the pilot interventions of the One Health project in Uttarakhand and Karnataka states by the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), Government of India with the financial support of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as the implementing partner.
One-Health is a multi-sectoral approach that takes into consideration human, animal and environment health and the interconnectivity and interdependence of these three elements. Van Gujjars are the nomadic tribes of Uttarakhand, living in the fringe areas of the forest and usually migrate during the summer seasons and, therefore, have swift and sustained interaction between the forests and the civilization. The huge buffalo population of the Van Gujjar community usually is at a risk as a two-way carrier for the infectious (including zoonotic) diseases by living in close contact with the wild animals and the Van Gujjars. Addressing the awareness and requirement of Van Gujjar community for zoonotic diseases is important for achieving the ambitious goal of One Health in Uttarakhand. Therefore, to create awareness about vaccination and deworming and giving impetus for wider outreach to the State's vaccination drive; the training programmes for van Gujjar Community members of Nainital was organized on 30-08-2022 at College of veterinary Sciences, GBPUA&T, Pantnagar. A total of 28 Van Gujjar Community Members of Nainital district including Sri Ameer Hamja, Founder, Van Gujjar Tribal Yuva Sangathan attended the training programme. Prof. (Dr) N. S. Jadon, Dean, CVAS, GBPUA&T graced the functon as Chief Guest. The program was attended by Dr Ajit Singh Yadav, Director, CCSNIAH, Baghpat; Dr Vikas Gupta, Assistant Director, CCSNIAH; and Dr Nihar Nalini Mohanty, Assistant Director, CCSNIA&AH; Dr Bhupendra Jangpangi, CVO, Nainital, Dr Shiv Prasad, Professor VGO, GBPUA&T; Dr Rajeev Ranjan, Asst. Professor, GBPUA&T.
The training programme comprised of various sessions wherein interactive lectures were delivered by experts highlighting the importance of vaccination, deworming, and tagging in animals, vaccination schedule to be followed, precautions to be taken while vaccinating the animal, importance of biosecurity for prevention of animal diseases to name a few. A question- answer and feedback session moderated by Dr. R. K. Singh Project Director, One Health Support Unit followed the technical sessions to clear the doubts of the trainees, at the conclusion of the training programme, The training programme along with other initiatives of the One Health pilot will further reduce the chances of infectious diseases through enhancing the practice of tagging and vaccinating the livestock amongst the Van Gujjar community and associate them with the mainstream society by creating awareness about the initiatives taken by DAHD for reducing the occurrence of zoonotic and non-zoonotic diseases. The training program has been scheduled to be conducted in two batches for members of the Van Gujjar Community of Nainital and US Nagar District on 30th and 31st of August 2022. Many such training programmes are planned to be conducted in near future for the state.