Int. J. One Health Vol.9 Article-2
Research Article
International Journal of One Health, 9(1): 10-14
https://doi.org/10.14202/IJOH.2023.10-14
One Health epidemic preparedness: Biosafety quality improvement training in Nigeria
2. Department of Biotechnology, National Veterinary Research Institute, Plateau State, Nigeria.
3. A. P. Leventis Ornithological Institute, University of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.
4. Department of Zoology, University of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.
5. Departments of Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Texas, USA.
6. Biosafety Consulting, VA, USA.
Background and Aim: One of the key components of the O ne Health approach to epidemic preparedness is raising awareness and increasing the knowledge of emerging infectious diseases, prevention, and risk reduction. However, related research can involve significant risks to biosafety and biosecurity. For this purpose, we organized a multidisciplinary biosafety hands-on workshop to inform and increase the knowledge of infectious diseases and risk mitigation. This study aimed to describe the process and outcome of a hands-on biosafety training program using a One Health a pproach across a multidisciplinary and multi-specialty group in Nigeria.
Materials and Methods: A face-to-face hands-on training for 48 participants was organized by the West African Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases (WAC-EID) at the Jos University Teaching Hospital, serving as a lead institution for the Nigeria project site. Topics covered included (1) an overview of the WAC-EID research; (2) overview of infection prevention and control; (3) safety in animal handling and restraint, sample collection, and processing; (4) safety in field studies including rodent, bird and bat handling; (5) safety practices in the collection of mosquito and other arthropod vectors; (6) personal protective equipment training (disinfection, donning and doffing); and (7) safety in sample collection, labeling, and transportation. The program was executed using a mixed method of slide presentations, practical hands-on sessions, and video demonstrations. Pre- and post-course evaluation assessments and evaluation measures were used to assess training.
Results: A total of 48 trainees participated in this training, with 12 (25%), 16 (33.3%), 14 (29.2%), 6 (12.5%) categorized as ornithology, entomology, mammalogy, and clinical interest groups, respectively. The pass rate for the pre-test was 29.4%, while for the post-test, it was 57.1%, or a 28% improvement. 88.6% of the trainees rated the training as relevant to them.
Conclusion: Didactic and hands-on biosafety training is relevant in this era of zoonotic epidemics and pandemic preparedness. During this training program, there was a clear demonstration of knowledge transfer that can change the current practices of participants and improve the safety of infectious diseases research. Keywords: biosafety, One Health, pandemic, training, biological safety.
Keywords: biosafety, One Health, pandemic, training, biological safety.
Received: 05-10-2022 Accepted: 28-12-2022 Published online: 27-03-2023
Corresponding author: P. M. Davwar E-mail: Pdavwar@gmail.com
DOI: 10.14202/IJOH.2023.10-14
Copyright: Davwar, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.