AFENET launches One Health FETP training to foster multi-sectoral approach to public health surveillance and outbreak investigation in South Sudan

In order to advance the One Health approach to public health surveillance and outbreak investigations, AFENET launched the One Health Frontline FETP training in her South Sudan Program.  One Health (OH) is the approach where professionals—particularly physicians, veterinarians, public health experts, environmental experts, climate change groups, and conservationists work together to maximize human, animal, plant, and environmental health.  The approach contributes to global health security by fostering collaboration across sectors and disciplines, emphasizing shared governance, communication and coordination.

To this end, AFENET leveraged the United States Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC)-revised Frontline FETP curriculum incorporating One Health (OH) concepts and principles to enhance multisectoral training in field epidemiology and public health. The joint training of animal, environmental, and human workforce aims at encouraging multisectoral collaboration of surveillance officers from across disciplines.  In February 2024, AFENET, in collaboration with the US CDC, South Sudan MOH, other OH line ministries and WHO launched the first cohort of One Health Frontline FETP training for 24 national level health professionals. The trainees were drawn from MOH (13), Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries (4), Ministry of wildlife (2), Ministry of environment and forestry (3), Ministry of Agriculture (1), and Ministry of Resources and Irrigation (1). With support from Africa CDC through the South Sudan National Public Health Institute, a second cohort of one health Frontline FETP of 20 participants enrolled in September 2024 and graduated in November 2024.

Through this training, trainees learnt to apply One Health concepts and principles to strengthen public health systems, with a focus on surveillance and outbreak investigations. The resultant pool of One Health Frontline graduates has bolstered the country’s capacity to rapidly deploy multi-sectoral rapid response teams to investigate and respond to zoonotic diseases and other OH-related events in the country. The graduates later effectively responded to Anthrax outbreaks in two states in South Sudan using the OH approach.

When properly applied and implemented, the One Health approach is expected to protect and save millions of lives across generations. Over the medium term, AFENET is committed to working with partners to support countries to institutionalize the OH approach through enhancing multisectoral collaborations and coordination involving all key stakeholders and catalyzing interdisciplinary programs in workforce development. We will continue to contribute to strengthening the OH approach in FETP training. Ultimately, our target is to spread out this initiative so that every member country will have sufficient applied epidemiology capacities needed to protect and promote the health of its own population and collaborate with relevant one health sectors to promote global health security.