OH-NEXTGEN

Training of the One Health Next Scientific Generation in the Sahel and Maghreb

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Humans and animals living in poor communities in the developing world often suffer from health problems arising from neglected zoonoses. Control options for these diseases are perceived as either too expensive or to be beyond the mandate of either the human or animal health systems. There is evidence that zoonoses in humans can be suppressed or even eliminated through interventions in animals. Moreover, joining human and animal health services can provide access to care that would otherwise not be affordable or not be available. The close collaboration between the public and animal health sectors, also called One Health, with clearly defined roles for each sector, offers a formidable potential for creative and cost-effective solutions in disease control. Despite the emerging evidence on the effectiveness of One Health in surveillance and control of zoonoses, institutional barriers limit the added value of closer cooperation between human and animal health. OH-NEXTGEN will develop a web-based modular training course designed to empower a new generation of scientists to address One Health issues faced by communities in Africa. While this programme is targeted to the Maghreb and the Sahel, the course will be accessible world-wide by offering training modules through the European Tropical Health Education Network (tropED) and other existing networks. The course will include selected neglected zoonoses and generic themes such as integrated methods of joint human and animal disease surveillance and epidemiology, health economic assessments, animal-human modelling of infectious disease, trans-disciplinary approaches to connect science and society and address issues of culture, gender and contextualized extension and health education. In each module the added value of One Health is demonstrated. The project will complement the existing EU FP7 ICONZ project, which builds up the evidence base for integrated control approaches to neglected zoonoses in 7 African countries.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

A research support project is providing training in neglected animal-transmitted diseases for a new generation of African researchers.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Studies show that proper interventions can limit the transmission of animal diseases like bird flu to humans. Pioneered by the One Health initiative, this vision faces challenges in the form of institutional barriers.

The EU-funded 'Training of the One Health next scientific generation in the Sahel and Maghreb' (http://www.oh-nextgen.eu/ (OH-NEXTGEN)) project is empowering a new generation of scientists to address the problem. Specifically, it is assisting the One Health campaign by strengthening the body of the evidence for integrated control of these diseases in seven African countries.

Activities in the project's first year centred on developing the curriculum for a web-based modular training course that will cover neglected diseases like rabies. The added value of One Health for African scientists will be demonstrated in each module.

Postgraduate medical, veterinary or biomedical scientists were defined as the course's target audience. Although designed with the Maghreb and Sahel regions in mind, the programme's training modules will be accessible worldwide through the European Tropical Health Education Network (tropED) and other networks.

Course content, course advocacy, and course monitoring and evaluation have been developed, and 10 course modules were defined. OH-NEXTGEN promoted the course, mostly in the West Africa region; the project was also presented to various scientific and student groups.

Tutors for the online courses received training prior to running the courses, and an online learning platform has been established and is ready for use. Project partners have completed a business plan for the continuation of these courses beyond the lifetime of OH-NEXTGEN after 2015.

OH-NEXTGEN expects that by project-end a total of 20 Francophone and 15 Anglophone scientists from the targeted regions will have been trained in distance-learning education. The new generation of scientists in One Health research in Africa bodes well for increased awareness and support for the One Health programme.