Faculty as Catalysts for a Changing Health Workforce
The USAID-funded One Health Workforce project (OHW) understands that faculty members play a central role in transforming the health workforce of tomorrow. OHW supports faculty members across Africa and Southeast Asia to develop their One Health teaching, research, and outreach expertise and equip current and future health professionals with the necessary knowledge, skills, and experiences to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats. We do this through a variety of faculty training, mentoring, and professional development activities. For example, One Health trainings introduce faculty members to One Health approaches and teaching resources, while curriculum and instructional design workshops help faculty design effective and engaging One Health programs and courses, and various network opportunities. OHW gives faculty members opportunities to apply and share their One Health knowledge with others through applied research grants, fellowships, faculty exchanges, and academic conference presentations. Together, these activities empower and enable university faculty members to engage students and fellow colleagues in meaningful, applied, and team-oriented One Health learning experiences.
OHW Faculty Survey Results
Midway through the project, we surveyed 348 faculty participants from over 12 countries across Africa and Southeast Asia to understand how they are making a difference in their classrooms and communities and transforming the One Health workforce of tomorrow.
Faculty Engagement in One Health
Participants Represent Many Health Disciplines
Collaboration between the human and animal health sectors is extremely important considering an estimated 60% of known infectious diseases are spread by animals and 75% of new and emerging infectious diseases are of animal origin. To this end, the multi-disciplinary background of faculty participants in OHW activities is encouraging. 51% of faculty members surveyed have a background in human health (e.g. public health, nursing, medicine), 29% come from animal health disciplines (e.g. veterinary medicine, animal sciences), and 20% represent environmental health or other disciplines.
Faculty Members Are Highly Engaged in One Health Activities
Faculty members surveyed reported attending an average of 3.3 OHW events in the past year. This indicates a high level of faculty engagement in One Health activities and suggests that faculty participants are deepening their One Health expertise through participation in a variety of One Health teaching & learning opportunities.
Faculty Find One Health Training Relevant and Desirable
OHW has supported the identification, development, and training of One Health Core Competencies, which are the technical and soft skills important for working across disciplines and sectors to prevent, detect, and respond to One Health challenges at the interface of human, animal, and environmental health. One Health Core Competency domains include “soft skills” such as 1) Collaboration & Partnership, 2) Communication & Information Management, 3) Management, 4) Culture and Beliefs, 5) Values and Ethics, 6) Leadership, 7) Systems Thinking, 8) Gender, 9) Policy and Advocacy, and 10) Research. Of these 10 One Health competency domains, faculty participants ranked research, policy, communication, collaboration, and systems thinking as the most relevant or desirable skills.
One Health in the Classroom
One Health Learning is Increasingly Experiential and Student-Centered
An overwhelming majority (80%) of faculty instructors who have been exposed to One Health knowledge and concepts through the OHW project report teaching One Health in some capacity, often using student-centered and applied approaches. While most One Health learning takes place in the classroom as opposed to online or in the field, experiential learning activities are becoming increasingly popular methods for teaching One Health.
Faculty Report Widespread Use of Standardized One Health Modules
OHW implementing partners have created over 20 different One Health course modules for faculty members to use to teach One Health skills and competencies. 70% (n=213) of teaching faculty surveyed reported using at least one One Health module in their teaching. Faculty members reported using an average of about 6 different One Health modules to teach their students about One Health. The 6 most popular One Health modules (in terms of the percentage of One Health educators surveyed who report using them) include: One Health Knowledge and Concepts (51%), Zoonoses (46%), Collaboration and Partnership, (40%), and Infectious Disease Management (34%), Communication and Informatics (33%), and Systems Thinking (32%). The popularity of OHW-supported One Health modules demonstrates their value for faculty members and supports a common baseline understanding of One Health knowledge that cuts across disciplines, institutions, countries, and languages.
Faculty Are Catalysts for Change Beyond the Classroom
Faculty members report high levels of engagement and support of One Health work that stretches beyond the university classroom. In addition to their normal academic duties, 46% of faculty members surveyed conduct One Health-related research, 41% participate in community outreach activities, and 34% directly support disease outbreak prevention, detection, or response efforts on a regular basis.
The cloud below shows many of the disease threats faculty members commonly address in addition to their normal academic duties.
Through their teaching and research as well as their community and government engagement work, One Health faculty members strengthen the future and current health workforce and directly impact the health and well-being of their community. This suggests that One Health faculty members are important agents of One Health transformation on a broad scale and that investments in One Health faculty development pay dividends in classrooms, communities, and government agencies.
OHW Impact on Faculty Work
Faculty respondents described a number of ways in which participating in OHW activities enhanced their appreciation for One Health approaches, improved their performance, and expanded their professional development opportunities.
Increased Faculty Appreciation for Collaborative One Health Approaches
“I have a better understanding of my roles and responsibilities in preventing, detecting, and responding to disease threats.”
— Indonesian faculty member“I have learnt to appreciate the importance of community education and participation for lasting solutions to health challenges.”
— Kenyan faculty member“I better understand the urgency of partnership and collaboration across sectors in dealing with various public health issues.”
— Indonesian faculty member“Because of this platform (OHW), we are now undertaking multidisciplinary research in collaboration with public health and veterinary professionals.”
— Ethiopian faculty member“It has broadened my appreciation of the inter-connectedness of the humans, animals and environment, and the need to apply this knowledge in emergency preparedness as well as prevention and control of infectious diseases, particularly zoonoses.”
— Malaysian faculty member
Improved One Health Skills, Networks, and Opportunities
“My comprehension of instructional design has improved remarkably…I have developed creative ways to deliver my modules, enhancing student learning and assessment.”
— Kenyan faculty member“I can respond to grant calls; I can write my own proposal.”
— Tanzanian faculty member“I managed to introduce the One Health concept in all of my courses.”
— Rwandan faculty member“We have begun collaborating across the fields at institutions and socializing and incorporating One Health materials in lectures and meetings.
— Indonesian faculty member“There are training and career opportunities through the network which I was not aware of before this.”
— Malaysian faculty member“The One health workforce has widened my network with other stakeholders, expanded my career opportunities to be involved in interesting workshops and activities and increase my knowledge.”
— Indonesian faculty member
Challenges Faculty Face Using One Health Approaches
Faculty participants identified a lack of awareness of One Health among colleagues as the most significant barrier to using a One Health approach in their work. Getting others to collaborate or engage in interdisciplinary work was another commonly reported challenge. Insufficient resources, training opportunities, and support from supervisors are other commonly challenges.
Need to Continue Building One Health Awareness and Understanding
“There are still gaps in understanding One Health approach and thus, advocacy needs to be done more intensively.”
— Ethiopian faculty member“Awareness and understanding towards one health approaches still lacking in my work place.”
— Malaysian faculty member“The higher officials at academic and ministry offices still do not sufficiently understand the importance of a One Health approach. This will hamper the process of institutionalization of a One Health approach.
— Ethiopian faculty member“There is need for continuous training to update us on current issues in one health area.”
— Kenyan faculty member
Collaborating and Working Across Disciplines Remains a Challenge
“The compatibility between the One Health philosophy and the habits and customs in some health sectors is a major hurdle.”
— DRC faculty member“In theory, the concepts of One Health is perfect, but how to carry out coordination, cooperation and collaboration is not easy and simple. Special efforts, dedication and arts how to implement those in the daily activities are needed.”
— Indonesian faculty member
Conclusion
The One Health approach resonates strongly with many faculty participants, most of whom now understand and appreciate the need to work across disciplines and sectors to address complex health challenges such as antimicrobial resistance and the spread of infectious diseases. Many participants are using what they learn in OHW-supported workshops and trainings to improve their teaching and create relevant and meaningful learning opportunities for students. The benefits of faculty professional development are not limited to the classrooms in which they teach the current and future health workforce. Many faculty members develop lasting relationships with local communities and engage students in community-based work through health outreach campaigns, applied research, and support of disease preparedness and response efforts. OHW-supported faculty members have demonstrated that faculty development can be a worthwhile and sustainable investment in academia, community health, and health workforce capacity.
The One Health Workforce Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) team from the University of Minnesota and Tufts University works together with M&E liaisons in the One Health Central and East Africa Network (OHCEA) and the Southeast Asia One Health University Network (SEAOHUN).
The USAID One Health Workforce project is strengthening the capacity of the global health workforce to prevent, detect, and respond to emerging infectious diseases. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook for more information.
