As part of its technical support to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through the Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) programme, is empowering veterinarians with capacity and skills for detecting and controlling emerging and transboundary animal diseases in the country.
FAO is empowering field-based animal health professionals to prevent, control and respond to the spread of zoonotic diseases in Nigeria through the In-service Applied Veterinary Epidemiology Training (ISAVET) programme.
The ISAVET training of trainers’ and mentors’ workshop was held from 5 to 16 July in Lagos as part of efforts to kick-start implementation of the ISAVET programme in the country. The main training program is expected to commence in August with a cohort of trainees from across the country.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 70 per cent of emerging infectious diseases in humans originate from animals.
During a recent ISAVET training in Lagos, the FAO’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) Team Leader in Nigeria, Guy Kouame, said “it is therefore essential that veterinarians fighting zoonotic diseases have the necessary skills to detect and respond rapidly.”
To address the skills gap in member countries, he said, FAO through the ECTAD programme has partnered with the Institute of Animal Infectious Diseases (IIAD) at Texas A and M University to launch the ISAVET training since 2018.
The training, targeting 14 countries in Central, East and West Africa, has been rolled out under the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Lessons learned from ISAVET roll-out in other countries highlighted the need to train a core group of trainers and mentors to support sustainable implementation of ISAVET at the national level.
Nigeria has just joined the ISAVET roll-out this year and this is implemented in collaboration with the Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services (FDVPCS), Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
In his remarks at the training in Lagos, the Chief Veterinary Officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Olaniran Alabi, stressed the importance of this activity by underlining the need for training animal health personnel in the country with modern skills and knowledge for animal diseases control.
“This programme comes at the right time to fill the gap in the training of animal health personnel in field epidemiology. We believe it will effectively contribute to raising the level of surveillance and fight against animal diseases and zoonoses,” he said.
Participants were trained in surveillance, outbreak investigation, emergency preparedness, professional ethics and communication and will also undergo in-service practicals and mentorship.
With FAO’s support, each participant is exposed to roles and responsibilities related to the preparation, implementation and post-training phases of an ISAVET course at the national level.
An important outcome of these two training workshops is the establishment of an in-service training model which meets national needs and demand, the adaptation of the ISAVET curriculum for broad application across Nigeria and improved disease surveillance, reporting and outbreak investigations.
ISAVET training for veterinary field officers is an example of sustainability for the future of the country, as it aims to improve Nigeria’s Veterinary Services’ capacity to plan for, prepare for, respond to, and overcome critical threats to human and animal health at the interface between human, animal and environmental health.
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