Pioneering the One Health Approach
Integrating Human, Animal, and Environmental Health for a Sustainable Future
One Health International is the One Health initiative of the College of Veterinary Sciences & Animal Husbandry at Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan (AWKUM), in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is best known for the International One Health Conference, which the college hosted in 2023, 2024 and 2025 for researchers, veterinarians, doctors, policymakers, industry and students from Pakistan and abroad.
One Health starts from a simple observation: the health of people, animals and the environment is connected, so emerging zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, food insecurity and climate-related threats cannot be tackled one sector at a time. In Pakistan, where many people live and work in close contact with livestock and wildlife, and where informal animal markets, limited biosecurity and environmental pressures raise the risk of zoonoses, that makes the approach a necessity rather than an option.
Led by the college’s Principal, Prof. Dr. Sher Bahadar Khan, the initiative works through the conference, research collaborations, training and public awareness, and offers evidence-based recommendations to policymakers.
Human health
Preventing disease in people by tackling risks that begin in animals and the environment, such as rabies, avian influenza, brucellosis and tuberculosis.
Animal health
Healthy animals underpin food security, livelihoods and public health: surveillance in livestock and wildlife, vaccination and biosecurity.
Environmental health
Climate change, deforestation, water pollution and the loss of biodiversity shape how diseases emerge and spread.
The conference so far
The International One Health Conference is held over two days at the College of Veterinary Sciences & Animal Husbandry in Mardan.
Past edition
1st International One Health Conference
Recent Trends in Improving Resistance Against Diseases Using Molecular Genetics and OMICS Tools
December 6–7, 2023MardanThe first conference asked how molecular genetics and OMICS tools, the newest approaches alongside vaccination, treatment and case management, can build resistance against disease within a One Health frame.
Its keynote and invited speakers came from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, China Agricultural University, Huazhong Agricultural University, the University of Sydney, the University of Nottingham and Bu-Ali Sina University in Iran.
Past edition
2nd International One Health Conference
Long Term Survival of Human Being through National Ecosecurity System
November 7–8, 2024MardanThe second conference turned to the long-term survival of human beings through a National Eco-security System (NESS): sustainable resource management, environmental protection and disaster risk reduction, with government, industry, academia and civil society at the same table.
Muhammad Fakhre Alam, Secretary of the Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperative Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, opened it. Its sessions covered health, poultry, eco-security, biosecurity, agriculture, industry and links between academia and industry, alongside an industrial exhibition.
Past edition
3rd International One Health Conference
One Target: Long Term Survival of Human Being through National Eco-security System
November 6–7, 2025MardanThe third conference kept the eco-security theme, with keynote speakers from China, the United States, Turkey, Australia, Afghanistan and Iran.
Its abstract book holds 84 abstracts in three themes, Agriculture and Eco-security, Animal and Veterinary Sciences, and One Health, on subjects from zoonotic diseases, food safety and antimicrobial resistance to wildlife health, public health policy, environmental management and sustainable livestock production.
What the conference sets out to do
Share research
Give researchers from Pakistan and abroad, young and established, a platform for their findings on disease, food security and the environment.
Bring the sectors together
Put government, industry, academia and civil society in one room to agree practical solutions and policy recommendations.
Build partnerships
Form networks among researchers and professionals, and stronger links between academia and industry.
Shape a national vision
Develop a National Eco-Security Vision for Pakistan, and the policies to put it into practice.
Show what industry makes
An industrial exhibition shows participants and the public the products and innovations of industry.
What the 2024 conference recommended
The conference closed with recommendations, presented by Prof. Dr. M. Subhan Qureshi in a session chaired by the Vice Chancellor. By then 63 institutions and 250 individuals had joined the NESS-Pak initiative.
- 01
Make antimicrobial resistance a priority in research and postgraduate programmes, through collaborative projects.
- 02
Open private livestock and poultry farms to students and faculty, and give farmers technical, diagnostic and advisory support in return.
- 03
Move provincial livestock and poultry farms from curative to preventive medicine: sanitation, vaccination and record-keeping.
- 04
Research the genetics, stress physiology and fertility problems that exotic livestock and poultry breeds have brought.
- 05
Present the NESS Global Report Pakistan Volume to the federal Minister of Science and Technology, and set up a NESS-Pak support cell at the ministry.
- 06
Set up a Triple Helix Committee on food security and eco-security at AWKUM, uniting academia, government and the private sector.
Who is behind it
The College of Veterinary Sciences & Animal Husbandry organises the conference. Its Principal, Prof. Dr. Sher Bahadar Khan, whose work spans microbiology, zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance and biosafety, chaired the 1st conference and was chief organiser of the 2nd and 3rd.
Dr. Tahir Usman of the college was chief organiser and focal person of the 1st conference and led the 2025 abstract book. Prof. Dr. M. Subhan Qureshi, President of Dairy Science Park and NESS Pakistan, co-organised the 2024 and 2025 conferences. The university’s Vice Chancellor has been patron-in-chief of each conference, and the Dean of the Faculty of Chemical & Life Sciences its patron.
Each conference’s patrons, organisers and advisory committees are listed on the organising committee page.
Supported by
- Pakistan Science Foundation2023, 2024 and 2025
- Higher Education Commission2023, 2024 and 2025
- Dairy Science Park2024 and 2025
- NESS Pakistan2024 and 2025
In 2024 the Poultry Doctors Forum and five companies also supported it: Inshal Pharma, Avicenna of Sarhad Traders, UM Enterprises, MB Marketing and DMG Pharmaceuticals.
The host university
Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan was founded in 2009. It ranked first among Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s universities in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023, and in 2025 had 34 academic departments offering more than 100 undergraduate and graduate programmes to about 16,000 students.
Research and outreach
NESS-Pak Research Center
AWKUM is home to the NESS-Pak Research Center, set up after the 1st conference. The 2024 conference asked the university to lead work bringing eco-security into teaching and outreach, on biodiversity, food security, public health and livelihoods.
World Rabies Day
On 28 September 2023 Prof. Dr. Sher Bahadar Khan led an awareness walk and talk on preventing rabies, on responsible pet ownership and vaccination.
News
Scholarships, partnership agreements, new research laboratories, awards and the college’s other activities are posted in News.