In News:

The Fifth Meeting of the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) on the National One Health Mission (NOHM) was held at Kartavya Bhavan, New Delhi, under the chairmanship of Prof. Ajay K. Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India.

About the National One Health Mission

• Established with Cabinet approval in February 2024, following the recommendation of the 21st PM-STIAC (Prime Minister's Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council), the NOHM represents India's most ambitious attempt at building an integrated disease control and pandemic preparedness architecture. The mission adopts a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach — uniting human, animal, and environmental health systems under one coordinated framework.
• The nodal implementing agency is the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) under the Department of Health Research (DHR), while strategic oversight rests with the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (OPSA). The mission currently engages more than 16 Central Ministries and Departments, including the Ministries of Health, Environment, Earth Sciences, Agriculture, and Ayush.

Governance Structure

The mission operates through a two-tiered governance model:

• The Executive Committee, chaired by the Minister of Health and Family Welfare with the PSA as Vice-Chair, provides overall policy guidance. Member (Health), NITI Aayog serves as a permanent invitee, while secretaries of stakeholder departments and two states (on a rolling basis) are members.
• The Scientific Steering Committee, chaired by the PSA, provides scientific direction and oversight. It includes Secretaries and Directors General of all stakeholder departments alongside two rotating state representatives.

Key Outcomes of the Fifth SSC Meeting

• The Committee released proceedings of two major events: the National One Health Assembly (November 2025) and the Workshop on Operational Frameworks for One Health held at Nagpur, which brought together States and Union Territories to align governance structures with NOHM objectives.
• Discussions covered short-, medium-, and long-term One Health priorities, with emphasis on integrated surveillance, laboratory strengthening, AI-enabled pathogen detection, cross-sectoral data sharing, and development of medical countermeasures.
• Updates were also presented by key advisory work streams, including those on BSL-3/4 Laboratories, Technology-Enhanced Surveillance, Data Integration, and Medical Countermeasures. Notably, India is developing a national network of high-security laboratories — currently 22 BSL-3/4 facilities — with a new BSL-4 facility foundation-laid in Gujarat in January 2026.

Significance and Global Linkages

The mission aligns with the One Health Joint Plan of Action (OH JPA) 2022–2026 of the Quadripartite alliance — FAO, UNEP, WHO, and WOAH — reflecting India's commitment to global health security norms. It also complements the existing National One Health Programme for Prevention and Control of Zoonoses (NOHP-PCZ) under the NCDC umbrella scheme.

India's first State/UT engagement workshop (June 2025, New Delhi) saw participation from 27 States and UTs — underscoring the federal dimension of health governance.