19 April 2022, Makeni – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, launched today the first In-Service Applied Veterinary Epidemiology Training (ISAVET) program in Sierra Leone. ISAVET aims to strengthen the capacities of veterinarians and para-veterinary professionals to improve country’s capacity of detection and response to infectious diseases, including zoonotic diseases, that can be transmitted to humans.
Emerging and re-emerging disease infections in Sierra Leone are increasing because of its rich natural habitat, enormous wildlife species and increased human-wildlife interactions resulting from increased agricultural and hunting activities. During the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in 2014-2015, human interactions were identified as the course of the disease outbreak. On the other hand, porous international boundaries, poor animal disease control infrastructure and the country’s weak human resource capacity hinder the fight against animal diseases, including transboundary animal diseases (TADs) and zoonoses such as peste des petits ruminants (PPR), rabies and brucellosis. All these disease outbreaks have a huge impact on health, the economy and socio-political stability.
Therefore epidemiological surveillance, field investigation, response, communication and prevention and control of animal diseases are some of the core competencies required to build the country’s capacity to prevent priority transboundary and zoonotic animal diseases at the Human-Livestock interface at the source.
Enhancing capacities of animal health frontline workers
To address Sierra Leone’s limited capacity in animal disease detection and response, the Ministry of Agriculture, with support from the FAO, launched the ISAVET program. It is an on-the-job training that addresses critical skills needed to effectively conduct surveillance and response to animal diseases at the local level, focusing on improving disease detection, reporting and response.
The first cohort of 13 animal-health trainees will undergo four weeks of formal (didactic) training followed by three months of home-based mentored field projects at the trainees’ duty stations. After the final externship, the training programme will receive a certifications upon completion of the field case studies and dissemination of their field reports.
Rolling out the first cohort of the ISAVET Training
During the launch in Makeni, Mr. Harding Wuyango, FAO Representative for Programmes and Officer-in-Charge, said that field veterinarians and veterinary para-professionals were an indispensable human resource to ensure animal health and economic growth in the sub-sector.
“Field investigation is critical to curbing animal disease outbreaks; these frontline animal health service providers detect and respond to potentially zoonotic infectious diseases at their source.” He added the Directorate of Livestock and Veterinary Services is the driving force behind the ISAVET programme. FAO, through its Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) will provide the desired animal health skills and capacities during the structured on-the-job training, he affirmed.
Dr. Theresa Tenneh Dick, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, who launched the programme, said “The ISAVET training will empower the Livestock and Veterinary Service Division to strengthen the national surveillance system and improve detection and reporting of endemic, emerging and re-emerging diseases.”
Global Approach to Animal Health
FAO, the Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases (IIAD) of Texas A&M University and collaborators launched the ISAVET programme in 2018; to address endemic, emerging infectious and transboundary animal diseases (EIDs and TADs) in 14 countries of West, Central and East Africa.
The programme is implemented through the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) initiative with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The ISAVET programme provides “training through service” to agriculture ministries by training field veterinarians and paraprofessionals in disease detection, reporting and response to zoonoses and animal-specific diseases.
In preparation for the launch of ISAVET program in Sierra Leone several activities were implemented, including the appointment of the National ISAVET Programme Steering Committee (NIPSC) to coordinate and supervise implementation of ISAVET programme in the country, ISAVET identification and training of trainers and mentors as well the identification of trainees through a competitive process.
For more information, please contact:
Uzman Unis Bah
Communication Specialist FAO Sierra Leone
Email: uzman.bah@fao.org
