Takayuki Hagiwara, FAO Representative in India along with Dr Roderico Ofrin WHO Representative to India, and the FAO ECTAD India team visited the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in New Delhi on 2 May 2024 to gain first-hand knowledge of health information management.

NCDC has developed an Integrated Health Information Portal (IHIP) and Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP), along with a “war room” for real-time updates on disease information, including outbreaks. 

The Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) is a comprehensive disease surveillance program in India aimed at detecting and responding to outbreaks of various diseases, including zoonotic, communicable, and non-communicable diseases. It collects, analyses, and disseminates health data to enable early detection and timely response to public health threats.

The Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) is a digital platform developed by NCDC Delhi to integrate health data from various sources and provide a unified view of health information. IHIP facilitates real-time data collection, analysis, and reporting, allowing for more efficient health monitoring, decision-making, and policy formulation.

The Animal Husbandry Commissioner, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Government of India has requested FAO to provide technical support in establishing a similar real-time disease reporting system for zoonotic diseases and several other diseases affecting livestock and poultry. The visit to NCDC was insightful in planning a similar information portal, ensuring that updates on animal diseases are recorded promptly, enabling timely responses to emerging health threats.