Dr Tessa Cornell is a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Department of Livestock and One Health. Here Tessa tells us about a One Health workshop she coordinated with higher education students in The Gambia.
My first postdoc position has been Co-Investigator on a project called ‘Striving for One Health in Action in The Gambia’, a collaboration between the University of Liverpool and The Gambia’s Department of Livestock Services. Our research is focused on understanding how stakeholders in The Gambia perceive and prioritise One Health, aiming to identify knowledge gaps and inform development of a national One Health strategy.
What is One Health?
One Health is an approach that aims to balance and optimise the health of people, animals, and ecosystems, and recognises the links between them. It embraces multisectoral and multidisciplinary collaboration at varying levels of society.
Zoonosis and emerging disease surveillance represent one component of the One Health agenda and have been the focus of international agencies in their efforts to support national disease prioritisation strategies and operationalise the concept. However, a One Health approach can be taken in response to a wide spectrum of complex health and societal challenges including antimicrobial resistance (AMR), food safety and security, and climate change.
Why The Gambia?
The Gambia, a small West African country with 2.7 million people, lacks a formal One Health framework. During my PhD research on the neglected fungal species Histoplasma in human and working equid populations, conversations with government veterinary personnel and farmers highlighted low awareness of the One Health concept. This informed the development of this project, which engaged government, academia, and civil society to better understand national One Health perceptions and priorities.
Empowering Future Leaders
As the future policy makers in The Gambia, students were identified as key One Health stakeholders. We held a workshop with 60 undergraduate students at the University of The Gambia and The Gambia College, representing schools of medicine, nursing, public health, agriculture, environmental sciences, social sciences and education. Through presentations and interactive sessions, multidisciplinary groups of students discussed how to apply One Health in practice to tackle local health and societal challenges. They also explored the competencies needed to take a One Health approach, including effective collaboration, communication, coordination and capacity-building.
This workshop was not only educational for the students but also for us as researchers, and highlighted the key responsibility of researchers to communicate research findings. The students were extremely engaged throughout and have gained a foundational knowledge of the One Health concept. The knowledge we acquired about priority health and societal challenges in The Gambia will direct future research, including engagement of local stakeholders to ensure research outcomes are effectively integrated into future One Health strategies in The Gambia.