FAO Trains 30 frontline veterinarians on Disease Surveillance/Investigation/Reporting

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations through the Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), has trained and graduated 30 frontline Veterinarians to improve their capacity for disease surveillance for field investigation and reporting aimed at improving health security and food production in Nigeria.

The training is aimed at improving the abilities of veterinarians and other animal health workers to predict, prepare, prevent, respond and recover from critical health threats affecting humans and animal.

The Assistant FAO Representative (Program) Dr. Abubakar Suleiman in his open remark said the training is part of its technical support to Nigeria, through the Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), to empower veterinarians by the In-Service Veterinary Epidemiology Training (ISAVET) to detect and control animal diseases, including zoonotic diseases, which also affect humans.

According to him, the programme which is supported by Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) would equip trainees to overcome critical threats at the interface between human, animal and environmental health.

“This first cohort of ISAVET trainees in Nigeria is part of a much larger group of beneficiaries in 14 countries across Africa, forming a highly skilled workforce equipped to overcome critical threats at the interface between human, animal and environmental health”

“These trained frontline veterinary field officers are set to make a significant contribution to the sustainable development of Nigeria and Africa, helping to mitigate national, regional and global spread of disease and improve health security and food production” he added.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in Nigeria Dr. Mohammed Abubakar who was represented by the Chief Veterinary Offer of Nigeria Dr. Olaniran Alabi said the training couldn’t have come at a better time given the emergence of some threatening diseases.

“This could not have come at a better time than now considering the emergence and re-emergence of diseases of significant public health and socioeconomic importance such as Avian Influenza (Bird Flu), Foot and Mouth Disease, African Swine Fever, Rabies and Ebola”

He said the training would equip public health officers with the proper skills and competence required for managing emerging health emergencies in Animal.

National Project Coordinator Emergency Centre for Transboundary Diseases of the FAO Dr. Ayodele Majekodunmi who gave the details of the training said the trainees where selected 22 different and underwent four months of intensive training.

“So, over the past four months, these trainees that have been selected from 22 Different states have undergone one month of intensive classroom training.”

“They have also undergone three months of practical field training back at their stations, and this in service training model allows them to have practical training, but it also allows them to immediately start making impacts in their areas of practice and the acoustics right from the beginning”

Dr. Majekodunmi disclosed that from the assessment carried out on the trainee’s project excelled attaining the cut off mark of 60% and so far they are already making impact in their various states.

“From that we can see, they are already making a positive impact in their different states. So we are very, very proud of them. Everybody has passed the program, the full cohort of 30 students have passed successfully the cut off mark of 60% and we are looking forward to interacting with them again in six months time when we have the post training assessment”

She noted that what they are really looking at is to measure the impact the difference that they’re having within the State Veterinary Services in their different states, the impact that they’re having on local farmers, or local food producers and animals in terms of making everything safer for those who may be exposed to these diseases, for building the capacity of livestock keepers in their states to prevent disease and produce good quantities of wholesome food for Nigerians.