Holistic One Health Workforce Development in Thailand

Transforming Field-Based Learning to Community Interventions & Innovation

Infectious diseases have become the highest public health concern since the emergence of COVID-19. Through the support of the Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT-2) program and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) One Health Workforce Project – Next Generation (OHW-NG) Project, the Thailand One Health University Network (THOHUN) organized the Ecosystem Health Short Course (THOHUN-TELI). This course, which has been implemented annually for the last five years was inspired by the Annual Tufts Environmental Literacy Institute (TELI) course-organized by Tufts Institute for the Environment.

The course aims to prepare graduate students and current One Health workforces through field and community based learning at “One Health villages”, villages prioritized as field implementation sites because health problems arise from the interconnection of people, wildlife and domestic animals, and environmental factors. This course serves multi-disciplinary students and health workers from animal, human and environmental sectors to integrate their discipline-based knowledge and skills, practice One Health core competencies, collaboratively design innovative interventions, and engage with the community to solve their health and environmental problems.

IN FOCUS

• This course reached 145 multi-disciplinary learners from >10 disciplines.

• Individuals from eight countries were trained as One Health experts in their respective organizations.

• This program successfully established a holistic learning platform for 28 learners to apply discipline-based knowledge and skills and strengthen One Health's core competencies to cope with the complex- social, human and animal, and environmental health issues.

• Alumni were recruited to share their experiences and perspective with new approaches to learning and bridge the age gap between junior learners and expert facilitators.

• Fifteen (15) social innovations/solutions (learning outputs) were successfully communicated and delivered to the communities to address or solve One Health problems such as vector-borne diseases, food- and water-borne and zoonotic diseases, human and wild elephant conflict, water and waste management.

• During the portion of the course targeted at rabies, 71 multi-disciplinary students from at least 15 schools/universities were trained as One Health Ambassadors or peer leaders.

The THOHUN training team developed course content suitable for educating and training young people (Gen Z) for rabies prevention and control. The platform allows students to strengthen their planning & management, team collaboration, and systems thinking through interactive activities, a Knowledge-Attitude and Practice survey, and field-based learning.

- Personal protective equipment, distancing, and group size standards in this photo were consistent with local public health guidance and COVID-19 status in the specific country and time it was taken. This may not reflect best practices for all locations where COVID-19 is still spreading. -