ISAVET graduates to enhance animal disease reporting with upgraded skills in veterinary epidemiology.

Participants of the ISAVET Cohort 3 in Jos, Plateau state testified that it was a privilege to access new knowledge and skill in epidemiological practice, such that its application would reposition the animal health sector in the country.

30/12/2022

Abuja - As part of stakeholder commitment to check the threat of emerging and re-emerging Transboundary Animal Diseases (TADs) to animals, humans and the environment in Nigeria, Cohort 3 graduates of the In-Service Applied Veterinary Epidemiology Training (ISAVET) have pledged to deploy knowledge acquired and updated skills in veterinary epidemiology to support the drive through timely and accurate disease incidence reporting.

The four-month programme facilitated by the Food and Agriculture organisation of the United Nations Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (FAO ECTAD) and the Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services (DVPCS) of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) with technical and financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was held in Jos Plateau State.

At the opening of the programme in August 2022, the Director of DVPCS, Dr Maimuna A. Habib said the training was part of efforts to “ensure that frontline Veterinarians are adequately equipped to not only tackle the challenges of animal health in the country as they evolve, but also perform their role as required, particularly within the context of the One Health Approach”.

According to the FAO ECTAD Country Team lead Dr Guy Kouame, the training is FAO ECTAD's contribution to improve the animal health sector in particular, but also the human and the environment sectors, which is in line with the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA). Noting the training aims “to sustain the adoption of expert approach to veterinary epidemiology, surveillance and related field activities”.

A graduate of the cohort 3, Dr Chigozie Dire from Abia State said he is aware that most times before outbreaks, the right actions are not taken by responsible persons, “I will get the private Veterinarians who are always in contact with the farmers and many other people, they have useful information but do not send these reports. I will emphasize on the need for early reporting and effective data gathering and how best to package these reports for further investigations and detection of outbreak for timely intervention”.

Dr. Portia Minkah Welye said the best way to ensure the programme makes the right impact is to cascade the training to other veterinarians in Adamawa State, where she comes from. Because surveillance has been ineffective, most of the diseases are not reported. But “we were taught surveillance, monitoring and disease reporting and its importance to safeguard livestock, to which I intend to take back and train other Veterinarians and animal health workers on the importance of effective monitoring, detection and reporting for improved prevention of disease spread”.

Two sets (called cohorts) have already been given the capacity in the last one and half years to form the critical mass of frontline Veterinarians in Nigeria. The 33 participants who passed the initial test to participate in the third cohort went through the mandatory one-month didactic classroom session and completed the three month field training in November.

In her message to the graduates in Jos the National Coordinator of the programme Professor Lami Lombin while thanking the facilitators of the training said, “having been well equipped to support disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, emergency preparedness and response, Nigeria can boast of having a total of 96 trained frontline ISAVET trainees (54 males, and 42 females) with this cohort having the highest number of female trainees (17)”.

High point of the graduation was the presentation of certificates to the graduates and award of excellence, where plaques were presented to the overall winner and two runners up. Remarkably, the three recipients of the awards were all female veterinarians.

Interestingly, the ISAVET cohort 3 training recorded a 100% success rate with the overall winne, Dr Portia Minkah Welye, a female veterinarian from Adamawa state leading two other female Veterinarians; Dr Maryam Aliyu Mohammed from Kebbi State and Dr Mariam Treasure Olaoye from Osun State as first and second runners up. The winners were selected based on their exceptional project presentations which centred on Anti-Microbial Resistance, TADs, Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), Peste des petits ruminants (PPR), Rabies, Newcastle Disease (ND), surveillance, economic analysis, Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP), Biosecurity and vaccination along different value chain actors.