Abstract
The One Health approach has gained support across a range of disciplines; however, training opportunities for professionals seeking to operationalize the interdisciplinary approach are limited. Academic institutions, through the development of high-quality, experiential training programs that focus on the application of professional competencies, can increase accessibility to One Health education. The Rx One Health Summer Institute, jointly led by US and East African partners, provides a model for such a program. In 2017, 21 participants representing five countries completed the Rx One Health program in East Africa. Participants worked collaboratively with communities neighboring wildlife areas to better understand issues impacting human and animal health and welfare, livelihoods, and conservation. One Health topics were explored through community engagement and role-playing exercises, field-based health surveillance activities, laboratories, and discussions with local experts. Educational assessments reflected improvements in participants’ ability to apply the One Health approach to health and disease problem solving, as well as anticipate cross-sectoral challenges to its implementation. The experiential learning method, specifically the opportunity to engage with local communities, proved to be impactful on participants’ cultural awareness. The Rx One Health Summer Institute training model may provide an effective and implementable strategy by which to contribute to the development of a global One Health workforce.
Highlights
IntroductionThe United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that encompass social development (e.g., poverty), the environment (e.g., climate change), and economic progress (e.g., infrastructure) are positioned to set the agenda for global health; these goals embody a One Health (OH) strategy (Gostin and Friedman 2015)
Over the decade, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that encompass social development, the environment, and economic progress are positioned to set the agenda for global health; these goals embody a One Health (OH) strategy (Gostin and Friedman 2015)
Universities are uniquely positioned to translate OH from concept into action through collaborative training; disciplinary inertia, crowded curricula, time constraints that vary by professional training program, and lack of funding for curriculum development and delivery often serve as barriers to progress (Barrett et al 2011)
Summary
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that encompass social development (e.g., poverty), the environment (e.g., climate change), and economic progress (e.g., infrastructure) are positioned to set the agenda for global health; these goals embody a One Health (OH) strategy (Gostin and Friedman 2015). Universities are uniquely positioned to translate OH from concept into action through collaborative training; disciplinary inertia, crowded curricula, time constraints that vary by professional training program, and lack of funding for curriculum development and delivery often serve as barriers to progress (Barrett et al 2011). Evidence suggests that training programs that focus on application of concepts, rather than theoretical knowledge, are more successful for professional development (Vink et al 2013). A number of experiential short courses have been developed to expand their knowledge, skills, and mentors in OH topic areas, such as AQUAVETÒ, MARVET, CONSERVET, and the Envirovet Summer Institute which ran from 1991 to 2010 (Conrad et al 2009; Gilardi et al 2004; Schwind 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)
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