One health in India: Time to act together

The emerging public health issues of 21st century have clearly warned us that the efficient tackling of these threats need to be done in collaborative manner between relevant public health professionals under the umbrella of One Health. The concept of One Health is longstanding;however, it is gaining due momentum across the globe, especially in context of tackling emerging zoonoses. India remains vulnerable to many of emerging health threats due to demographic, socio-economic and other factors related with globalization, climate change and related biodiversity losses. In India, the various public health agencies which includes human, animal and environmental health professionals have contributed joint efforts in recent past to confront the One Health related issues. However, the bridging of professional silos to act more synergistically need further sustained efforts from all the stakeholders, including policy makers.

Assessment of air quality changes in the four metropolitan cities of india during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown

In view of emerging threat of COVID-19 pandemic, stringent lockdown measures have been implemented in India since 25th March, 2020. The present study aims to assess the changes in air quality before and during lockdown in the four major metropolitan cities of India viz., Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. The data on major air quality parameters and meteorological parameters was collected for 15 days before lockdown (i.e., March 10th–March 24th, 2020) and 15 days after implementation of lockdown (25th March–April 8th, 2020). The lockdown measures reflected a significant reduction in air pollutants, most significant fall was estimated for NO2 (29.3–74.4%) while the least reduction was noticed for SO2. On the contrary, levels of ground level ozone were found to be increased (except in Mumbai), could be related to the lower utilization of O3 owing to decrease of NOx in the environment. Since, the lockdown period has been extended, therefore further reduction of most pollutants is expected. Among the various metrological parameters, significant increase in diurnal temperature was observed at Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, however relative humidity has changed significantly only in Mumbai. In the absence of any major violent meteorological phenomena in India during recent months the significant difference in air quality parameters could be majorly attributed to the effect of lockdown measures. However, the regional differences may be because of the local emission of pollutants and the prevailing effects of secondary pollutants. These observations highlight the contribution of anthropogenic sources in air pollution, therefore, sustainable polices for mitigation of air pollution are essential in India. © The Author(s).