Perspectives Posted on 2023-12-12 11:43:23
WOAH actions
New initiatives to provide e-learning modules on aquatic animal health
Keywords
In 2022, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) surveyed its 182 Members about training programmes for their Veterinary Services (VS) and Aquatic Animal Health Services (AAHS). While this survey does not replace a formal learning needs assessment, the responses were nonetheless informative enough to demonstrate that over 50% of Members had insufficient training or none at all. The survey also found that training resources are limited but that Members are interested in a wide range of topics relevant to the Aquatic Animal Health Code and the Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals (Fig. 1 and List I).
The findings from this survey will help to define WOAH’s future face-to-face and online training programmes for VS and AAHS.
Since 2018, WOAH has taken a new approach to its training system. This Competency-based Training Framework has a strong online training component and takes into account a wider audience base. The overall goal is to facilitate the implementation of WOAH Standards by its Members.
Consideration has been given to the aquatic sector, with a dedicated Competency Package currently under development. The terms of reference for this Package (defining the training areas and learning outcomes) will be available in 2023. An initial set of five e-modules on antimicrobial use (AMU) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) will also be made available to Members in 2024. These modules will be particularly useful when addressing Critical Competency II.9, on AMR and AMU, of the Aquatic PVS Assessment Tool.
These e-learning modules will contribute to Objective 2 (Capacity Building) of the WOAH Aquatic Animal Health Strategy 2021–2025.
The wealth of existing training material at the national and regional level will also be explored in order to enrich the WOAH training catalogue.
List I. List of priority aquatic topics for training in VS/AAHS (in % of Members responding to WOAH survey 2022)
- Disease surveillance, detection and reporting (70)
- Risk analysis (64)
- Diagnosis and aquatic diseases (50)
- Prevention and control of aquatic diseases (61)
- Trade measures (32)
- Quality of VS/AAHS (29)
- AMR/AMU (27)
- Animal welfare (25) .
https://doi.org/10.20506/bull.2023.2.3412
