PUBLIC HEALTH No one organisation,networkor countryis enough to effectivelyfight against viral pathogens

In an interaction with Viveka Roychowdhury,Sunil Solomon ,Professor,John Hopkins University of Medicine,and Chairman of YRG Care and Gavin Cloherty ,Head of Infectious Disease Research and the Abbott Pandemic Defense Coalition (APDC) explain the need to track viral infections to prevent future pandemics.Agood example is the work done as part of the partnership between APDC and YRGCARE in India to combat HIV& Hepatitis burden

The COVID pandemic has refocused the need to proactively track infectious diseases more closely. Which are the infectious diseases that India is most vulnerable to?

Sunil Solomon: To protect public health, it is clear that we must stay alert to any concerning viral threats, and equally important to continue monitoring for existing threats. India faces a significant infectious disease burden, including tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B and C, antimicrobial resistance, acute respiratory infections like influenza, pneumonia, malaria, typhoid, dengue, and more, in addition to COVID-19. Many of these poses pressing health challenges, particularly during seasonal outbreak periods. Broad access to testing is key to help monitor these communicable diseases.

How does India as a country tackle threats from infectious diseases as a public health initiative?

Sunil Solomon: India can take various steps to tackle infectious disease threats. The first step should be to raise awareness of infections, viral bacterial and fungal, especially during regional outbreaks. This will help more people take appropriate preventive measures and get tested for timely diagnosis. It is also important to strengthen public health systems – like screening and disease surveillance. This includes efforts to ensure there are testing and treatment options for people in underserved regions of the country.

At Y.R. Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education or YRGCARE, we aim to help the local community with a number of on-ground services, including testing, counselling, prevention, clinical care and treatment, state-of-the-art laboratory services, supporting referrals and linkages, and specialised clinics for certain infectious diseases.

What have been YRGCARE’s initiatives on this front in terms of researching the spread of infections, migration patterns, etc?

Sunil Solomon: YRGCARE is a Chennai-based non-profit organisation which was founded in 1993 with the aim to provide HIV prevention and treatment in response to the HIV epidemic in India. We have conducted extensive clinical, laboratory, and behavioral research over the years to study India’s viral infection patterns, including for HIV, Hepatitis, Dengue, and more recently, SARSCoV-2. This work is across epidemiology, prevention, natural history, treatment outcomes, implementation science and more.

To help study India’s viral infections, we entered into a partnership with Abbott in 2018 as part of its Global Surveillance Programme, and we are also one of members of the Abbott Pandemic Defense Coalition. Together, we study viral infection trends across India including how these are transmitted among at-risk populations. We also examine local migration patterns so that we can design the most effective interventions.

India also has huge health