MyMedR

Displaying all 4 publications

Abstract:

Sort:

International stakeholder perspectives on One Health training and empowerment: a needs assessment for a One Health Workforce Academy

Sullivan A, Ogunseitan O, Epstein J, Kuruchittham V, Nangami M, Kabasa D, et al.

One Health Outlook, 2023 Jun 06;5(1):8.
PMID: 37280666 DOI: 10.1186/s42522-023-00083-4

BACKGROUND: One Health is defined as an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems; this approach attracts stakeholders from multiple sectors, academic disciplines, and professional practices. The diversity of expertise and interest groups is frequently and simultaneously framed as (1) a strength of the One Health approach in the process of understanding and solving complex problems associated with health challenges such as pathogen spillovers and pandemics and (2) a challenge regarding consensus on essential functions of One Health and the sets of knowledge, skills, and perspectives unique to a workforce adopting this approach. Progress in developing competency-based training in One Health has revealed coverage of various topics across fundamental, technical, functional, and integrative domains. Ensuring that employers value the unique characteristics of personnel trained in One Health will likely require demonstration of its usefulness, accreditation, and continuing professional development. These needs led to the conceptual framework of a One Health Workforce Academy (OHWA) for use as a platform to deliver competency-based training and assessment for an accreditable credential in One Health and opportunities for continuing professional development.
METHODS: To gather information about the desirability of an OHWA, we conducted a survey of One Health stakeholders. The IRB-approved research protocol used an online tool to collect individual responses to the survey questions. Potential respondents were recruited from partners of One Health University Networks in Africa and Southeast Asia and international respondents outside of these networks. Survey questions collected demographic information, measured existing or projected demand and the relative importance of One Health competencies, and determined the potential benefits and barriers of earning a credential. Respondents were not compensated for participation.
RESULTS: Respondents (N = 231) from 24 countries reported differences in their perspectives on the relative importance of competency domains of the One Health approach. More than 90% of the respondents would seek to acquire a competency-based certificate in One Health, and 60% of respondents expected that earning such a credential would be rewarded by employers. Among potential barriers, time and funding were the most cited.
CONCLUSION: This study showed strong support from potential stakeholders for a OHWA that hosts competency-based training with opportunities for certification and continuing professional development.
Fulltext Living Safely With Bats: Lessons in Developing and Sharing a Global One Health Educational Resource

Martinez S, Sullivan A, Hagan E, Goley J, Epstein JH, Olival KJ, et al.

Glob Health Sci Pract, 2022 Dec 21;10(6).
PMID: 36951282 DOI: 10.9745/GHSP-D-22-00106

As part of a public health behavior change and communication strategy related to the identification of a novel ebolavirus in bats in Sierra Leone in 2016, a consortium of experts launched an effort to create a widely accessible resource for community awareness and education on reducing disease risk. The resulting picture book, Living Safely With Bats, includes technical content developed by a consortium of experts in public health, animal health, conservation, bats, and disease ecology from 30 countries. The book has now been adapted, translated, and used in more than 20 countries in Africa and Asia. We review the processes used to integrate feedback from local stakeholders and multidisciplinary experts. We also provide recommendations for One Health and other practitioners who choose to pursue the development and evaluation of this or similar zoonotic disease risk mitigation tools.
Author Correction: Predicting the potential for zoonotic transmission and host associations for novel viruses

Pandit PS, Anthony SJ, Goldstein T, Olival KJ, Doyle MM, Gardner NR, et al.

Commun Biol, 2023 Jan 10;6(1):25.
PMID: 36627372 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-04364-y
Fulltext Predicting the potential for zoonotic transmission and host associations for novel viruses

Pandit PS, Anthony SJ, Goldstein T, Olival KJ, Doyle MM, Gardner NR, et al.

Commun Biol, 2022 Aug 19;5(1):844.
PMID: 35986178 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03797-9

Host-virus associations have co-evolved under ecological and evolutionary selection pressures that shape cross-species transmission and spillover to humans. Observed virus-host associations provide relevant context for newly discovered wildlife viruses to assess knowledge gaps in host-range and estimate pathways for potential human infection. Using models to predict virus-host networks, we predicted the likelihood of humans as hosts for 513 newly discovered viruses detected by large-scale wildlife surveillance at high-risk animal-human interfaces in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Predictions indicated that novel coronaviruses are likely to infect a greater number of host species than viruses from other families. Our models further characterize novel viruses through prioritization scores and directly inform surveillance targets to identify host ranges for newly discovered viruses.