Producing Interdisciplinary Competent Professionals: Integrating One Health Core Competencies into the Veterinary Curriculum at the University of Rwanda

Abstract

Infectious diseases of grave concern to human health are emerging from wildlife and livestock populations in multiple regions of the world. Responding effectively to these emerging pandemics requires engagement of multidisciplinary groups of professionals. Using a One Health approach, One Health Central and Eastern Africa (OHCEA), a network of seven schools of public health and seven veterinary schools, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has engaged in curriculum review with the aim of building the skills of multidisciplinary groups of professionals to improve their capacity to respond to emerging infectious diseases. Through stakeholder analysis and curriculum development workshops, the University of Rwanda's School of Veterinary Medicine, in association with Tufts University, revised its curriculum to incorporate One Health competencies to be better prepared to respond to any infectious disease outbreak in Africa. The revised curriculum aimed to build cross-sectoral skills and knowledge; transform students' ways of thinking about infectious disease outbreak response; link human, veterinary, and wildlife health training opportunities; and strengthen community frontline responder training. Eight different disciplines engaged in the curriculum review process: Veterinary Medicine, Livestock Production, Wildlife and Aquatic Resources, Environmental Health and Epidemiology, Communication Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, and Public Health. One Health competencies such as communication, collaboration, leadership, and advocacy were added to the new curriculum, helping ensure that each professional be appropriately equipped with skills to recognize and respond effectively to any emerging infections.

Developing a Global One Health Workforce: The “Rx One Health Summer Institute” Approach

“…In North America, there has been a significant shift in defining OH as core educational material in professional health programs. The North American Veterinary Medical Consortium identified OH knowledge as a core competency for veterinarians in 2011 (Amuguni et al 2017 ). Similarly, the American Medical Association has endorsed the OH concept (Stroud et al 2016 ).…”

“…There remains a scarcity of meaningful international opportunities and even fewer comprehensive OH training opportunities (Davis et al 2017 ; Mazet et al 2006 ; Reid et al 2016 ; Rwego et al 2016 ; Sikkema and Koopmans 2016 ; Wu et al 2016 ). Few training programs in the USA or around the world offer capacity strengthening programs that are truly interdisciplinary, especially in “hotspot” regions for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases like East and Central Africa (Amuguni et al 2017 ).…”

One health collaboration for a resilient health system in India: Learnings from global initiatives

“…Also in developed nations (such as the United States or Europe) there are some efforts to integrate these professionals through combined education [ 50 , 51 ]. There are also unique initiatives in East African countries for strengthening the clinical knowledge of these professionals through two years of field epidemiology training [ 52 , 53 ]. The MSc in One Health Analytical Epidemiology course in Zambia aims to create a cadre of epidemiologists with a broad understanding of disease control and prevention.…”

“…Second, level-based collaborations especially at the provider level. For example, the establishment of One Health clinics, at least in the areas of high human-animal density [ 55 ], or the joint One Health training programs [ [50] , [51] , [52] , [53] ] for workers from both systems need to be incorporated into the health system of the country. In addition, due to lack of human resources and budgetary constraints, it will be worthwhile to initiate combined delivery of health services at least in the hard-to-reach areas of the country.…”

“…Incorporating One Health into university education [ 80 ] as well as engaging in interdisciplinary teaching [ 81 , 82 ] can foster collaboration at the individual level in the long-term. The learnings from developing a One Health module in African states [ 49 , 52 ], Europe [ 51 ], USA [ 50 ] can be considered for the Indian scenario. One way is to develop an integrated One Health module by engaging professional bodies such as the Indian Medical Association and the Indian Veterinary Association.…”