NETWORK PROGRAMS

Overview

The Government of India has launched the “Program for Strengthening R&D towards Integrated Disease Control and Pandemic Preparedness” under the National One Health Mission (NOHM), guided by the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister. The initiative aims to strengthen national capacity for outbreak investigation and pandemic preparedness through a coordinated, multi-sectoral approach.

A key component is the establishment of a National Network of High-Risk Pathogen Laboratories (BSL-3/4) to enable rapid, integrated responses during public health emergencies, while enhancing surveillance across human, animal, and environmental health sectors and building skilled workforce capacity. Major agencies, including DBT, ICMR, DHR, DAHD, and ICAR, have contributed laboratories to this network, with BRIC-Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) as one of the participating centres. As a participating centre, BRIC-RGCB contributes through its high-containment laboratory infrastructure, supporting research on high-risk pathogens, outbreak response, and capacity building in line with the One Health framework.

Under the NOHM program, the RGCB BSL-3 facility is involved in the following network activities:

• Establishment of a national network of BSL-3/4 laboratories for outbreak investigation and pandemic preparedness.
• Development of a metagenomics-based NGS surveillance model using a syndromic approach in India.