Transforming the One Health workforce: lessons learned from initiatives in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Abstract

The capacity to effectively and efficiently address threats to public and animal health requires an adequately trained workforce. A prerequisite for this is an effective plan for building the capacity of both private and public health workers. Yet capacity building and workforce development within One Health collaboration remain challenging for a number of reasons, including competing priorities, sectorspecific funding and a lack of trust and communication across sectors. Practical considerations, such as differences in language and culture, and working across time zones and geography, also have a considerable influence. Consequently, previous attempts to build capacity have traditionally lacked the attributes necessary for effective development and sustainability, such as continuity and systematic coordination of the learning process. Through the presentation and analysis of two recently implemented workforce development programmes, the authors highlight effective characteristics of workforce initiatives to build capacity. Such programmes can play a strategic role in developing, coordinating and supporting systematic and sustainable training for One Health and Veterinary Services performance on a regional and global scale.