Delegates participating in the panel discussion session in the International conference on Risk Management and Prevention of Antibiotic Resistance

More than 700 delegates from over 40 Indian and European institutions debated the impact of the One Health approach in eradicating casualties associated with drug-resistant pathogens. Despite the scarce societal awareness (as reported by a recent article published in the Lancet), superbugs and drug-resistance diseases currently represent the second cause of death worldwide. The scientific community has unanimously associated the rise of drug-resistant diseases with unstainable human and medical practices. Present at this global conference were Italian Ambassador H.E. Ugo Astuto – and the Health attaché at the EU Delegation and Dutch Embassy in India, Dr. Romans Putans, Faculty of European Studies, Head of the Department of International Business and Economics, Riga Stradins University, Latvia, Benoît Sauveroche, First Counsellor, Delegation of the European Union to India and Bhutan and Marcel Floor, Counsellor for Health Welfare and Sport, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in India.

Envisioned by Dr. Madhu Chitkara, Pro-chancellor, Chitkara University, the project PREVENT IT aims at internationalization of higher education, and can be instrumental in increasing the capacity of Indian universities to enhance the nation’s modernization process, assisting the government in achieving goals of the flagship policies. “As a pragmatic measure to achieve this objective, the Chitkara SPAAK Centre for Multidisciplinary European Studies has been established at Chitkara University,” said Dr. Chitkara. Chaired by Dr. Stefano Greco, initiator of the PREVENT IT project, the Spaak Centre aims to establish bridges between Indian and Europe for societal issues having global relevance.

Selected and co-financed by the European Union with a grant of 1 million Euros, PREVENT IT is an innovative interdisciplinary capacity-building project designed to create an international alliance where universities from India and Europe are united around a common purpose. PREVENT IT has developed interdisciplinary learning activities and materials during the last four years, launching a set of initiatives to increase societal awareness. As a concrete action to expand the project’s scope, the conference has represented the opportunity for the official launch of the Indo-European One Health Association. The Association will capitalize on the activities conducted in the PREVENT IT framework, expanding the scope of action to human, animal and environmental health.