Eleven Universities to Adopt Updated One Health Curricula to Control Zoonoses
Eleven faculties of veterinary medicine, members of the Association of Veterinary Faculties of Indonesia (AFKHI) have agreed to adopt the One Health approach and associated best practices for zoonoses control, that have been developed by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) with the FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD). The best practices are focused on control and prevention of zoonoses and emerging infectious diseases (EID) as developed by FAO under the Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT2) program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The four areas of knowledge transfer and study are: animal, especially poultry, health; the ‘One Health’ approach; antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and antimicrobial usage (AMU); and animal health laboratories in EID and zoonoses detection.
In his opening speech at a 2-day wokshop with AFKHI in early April 2018 in Yogyakarta, Dr Fadjar Sumping, MoA Director of Animal Health, emphasized the importance of leveraging properly trained veterinary human resources, be it on a local or a national level, in facing the threats of EID.
He stated that the situation in Indonesia is very complex, geographically and demographically, and that veterinary services need to be supported by sufficient and well-skilled human resources. “One of the most immediate things we can do is developing an updated veterinary medical curriculum in Indonesian universities,” he explained.
It is known that the world is threatened by EID and pandemic zoonoses, including the global threat of AMR. According to experts, five human EIDs emerge every year where three of them are zoonotic. The MoA, with FAO ECTAD, have been striving to control and prevent this threat for more than a decade, through building national capacity together with multi-sectoral stakeholders at the national and sub-national levels.
Srikandi Agung Priyono, the head of AFKHI, appreciated the collabortion between universities, the MoA and UN agencies such as FAO. He said, MoA and FAO’s direct field experience in managing pandemic threats is a very valuable contribution to the development of veterinary schools in Indonesia.
Several potential collaborative activities can be implemented to incorporate lessons learnt and best practices from MoA and FAO EPT2 activities, into the veterinary curriculum and faculty instructor development. Other collaboration could include training module development and incorporating FAO speakers in university public lectures or seminars. “Each university can choose which collaboration they think is most appropriate to their own policies”, he explained.
The collaboration is also expected to assist AFKHI in achieving "Day One Competencies" as recommended by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE - Office International des Epizooties), especially in the prevention and control of new and potential pandemic infectious diseases and zoonoses.
A follow-on meeting will take place in May to identify what steps can be taken to fully implement this FAO-AFKHI collaboration.