TBM Report
The University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh has strongly urged the integration of the ‘One Health’ concept into higher education curricula to safeguard public health through a synchronized approach connecting human health, animal welfare, and environmental preservation.
Professor Dr. Masuma Habib, performing routine duties as the UGC Chairman’s member, made the call on Thursday while addressing an international symposium as the chief guest at American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB). The event was jointly organized by AIUB and the Third One Health Youth Alliance Bangladesh.
Emphasizing the compounding pressures of rapid urbanization, climate shifts, and ecological degradation, Dr. Habib noted that traditional single-sector interventions are no longer adequate. Tackling modern crises like antimicrobial resistance (AMR), environmental pollution, and zoonotic disease spillovers requires multi-disciplinary collaboration among medical doctors, veterinarians, agricultural scientists, and environmentalists.
Pointing out that over 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases originate from animal and environmental vectors, Dr. Habib advocated for embedding the One Health framework across diverse academic disciplines, including medicine, nursing, pharmacy, microbiology, zoology, agriculture, food science, and environmental studies.
Highlighting institutional milestones, the UGC official praised specialized initiatives led by the Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University in the public sector and the establishment of the One Health Center at AIUB in the private sector, expressing optimism that these hubs will drive actionable research.
The symposium was attended by AIUB Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Saiful Islam, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Md. Abdur Rahman, and Professor Dr. Muhammad Wasif Alam, lead of AIUB’s One Health+ Center. Academic researchers, health professionals, and development partners also joined the discussions.
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