Mainstreaming One Health competencies into higher education institutions

Over the past decade, the world has faced severe public health threats including zoonotic diseases, food insecurity, antimicrobial resistance and other emerging pandemic threats. This has been attributed to factors such as climate change, globalization, agricultural intensification, increased human population, leading to pressure on land resources, increased global trade and travel and increased use of antimicrobials in animal production and food preservation. One Health, an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems has been identified as an effective way to fight these threats at the human–animal–environment interface. One Health education creates a workforce, equipped with knowledge, skills and positive attitude to prevent, detect and respond to infectious disease threats, capable of fostering cross sectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration.

The Capacitating One Health in eastern and southern Africa (COHESA) project aims to support the creation of a One Health workforce by integrating One Health core and technical competencies into the existing curricula (preservice education) to produce professionals that can effectively and efficiently respond to challenges that require a One Health approach.

This document provides guidelines on integrating One Health competencies into Higher Education Institutes in Ethiopia (HEIs). Specifically, it offers guidelines and strategies for i) mainstreaming One Health concepts in the education curricula as a course; ii) integrating selected One Health competencies into course content, chapters or units; iii) strengthening One Health student clubs in HEIs; iv) designing tailormade summer schools for preservice and in-service professionals; and (v) implementing short courses on zoonoses, emerging diseases and emerging health related problems as well as systems’ approaches for effective managing emerging challenges using the One Health approach.