With funding from USAID, FAO trains animal health professionals in applied veterinary field epidemiology in Cameroon

From June 10 to July 5, 2024, twenty-four staff from MINEPIA, MINFOF, and private veterinarians attended the basic level Applied Veterinary Epidemiology Field Training Program (ISAVET), held in the town of Ebolowa.

Over 70% of emerging infectious diseases in humans originate from animals. Since 2019, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has been conducting training for veterinary professionals in field epidemiology (ISAVET) - basic level. Supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Texas A&M University, and in collaboration with African universities, ISAVET aims to develop the skills of animal health professionals to strengthen their capacity for detection and rapid intervention based on the integrated “One Health” approach.

Within this context, the sixth cohort of twenty-four animal health professionals was trained. The participants in this training course are public-sector employees, notably from the Ministries of Livestock (MINEPIA) and Wildlife (MINFOF), but also veterinarians from the private sector in the Centre, South, Littoral, North-West, West and South-West regions. The Regional Delegation for Fisheries and Animal Industries in the South region hosted the month-long training course. The theoretical part of the training was taught for three weeks by nine trainers and was followed by one week of practical work by a group of five mentors, who supervised the work on compliance with biosafety measures at farm level and on techniques for taking, packaging and transporting samples from the field to the laboratory.

In the analyses of the first Needs and Readiness Assessment (NRA) conducted in Cameroon, gaps were identified in human resources. To this end, ISAVET promotes continuous training in field epidemiology and aims to train a minimum of 744 basic-level field epidemiologists in charge of surveillance and management of animal disease outbreaks.

At the end of the course, trainees were satisfied with the quality of the teaching. For Dr. Paré Nsangou Ibrahim, a private veterinarian in Foumban, ISAVET training “is a godsend, as a program that strengthens the capacities of health practitioners in the field of epidemiology resolves the challenges that many veterinarians face on a daily basis”.  In the same vein, Bimai Serge Salomon, a senior water and forestry technician working at the Mengamé gorilla sanctuary in the southern region, admits that ISAVET training has enabled him, as an eco-guard, “to gain a better understanding of zoonotic diseases, as well as how to monitor wild animals in compliance with biosafety and biodiversity measures”.