RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: One Health is defined as an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems; this approach attracts stakeholders from multiple sectors, academic disciplines, and professional practices. The diversity of expertise and interest groups is frequently and simultaneously framed as (1) a strength of the One Health approach in the process of understanding and solving complex problems associated with health challenges such as pathogen spillovers and pandemics and (2) a challenge regarding consensus on essential functions of One Health and the sets of knowledge, skills, and perspectives unique to a workforce adopting this approach. Progress in developing competency-based training in One Health has revealed coverage of various topics across fundamental, technical, functional, and integrative domains. Ensuring that employers value the unique characteristics of personnel trained in One Health will likely require demonstration of its usefulness, accreditation, and continuing professional development. These needs led to the conceptual framework of a One Health Workforce Academy (OHWA) for use as a platform to deliver competency-based training and assessment for an accreditable credential in One Health and opportunities for continuing professional development. METHODS: To gather information about the desirability of an OHWA, we conducted a survey of One Health stakeholders. The IRB-approved research protocol used an online tool to collect individual responses to the survey questions. Potential respondents were recruited from partners of One Health University Networks in Africa and Southeast Asia and international respondents outside of these networks. Survey questions collected demographic information, measured existing or projected demand and the relative importance of One Health competencies, and determined the potential benefits and barriers of earning a credential. Respondents were not compensated for participation. RESULTS: Respondents (N = 231) from 24 countries reported differences in their perspectives on the relative importance of competency domains of the One Health approach. More than 90% of the respondents would seek to acquire a competency-based certificate in One Health, and 60% of respondents expected that earning such a credential would be rewarded by employers. Among potential barriers, time and funding were the most cited. CONCLUSION: This study showed strong support from potential stakeholders for a OHWA that hosts competency-based training with opportunities for certification and continuing professional development.
RESUMEN
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has put a great burden on countries as a result of the demand for laboratory diagnostic testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This paper reports our experiences in rapidly assessing Indonesia's COVID-19 laboratory testing capacity in the early phase of the pandemic response. Through a questionnaire-based survey carried out between 23 March and 2 April, we estimated the daily tests that could be done by the 44 facilities, excluding the national referral laboratory, first assigned to be COVID-19 diagnostic laboratories. The capacity constraints were lack of reagents and equipment, and limited human resources; because of these constraints, most of the laboratories were not yet operational. A major hindrance was reliance on imported supplies and the associated procurement time. Expanding real-time polymerase chain reaction testing capacity, through increased numbers of laboratories and optimization of existing facilities, was clearly the main priority. We also assessed the potential yield from using rapid molecular testing machines in the country's referral hospitals. Even assuming this potential could be tapped, several provinces would still be poorly served by diagnostic services in the event of a surge in cases. Since this rapid assessment, the number of designated COVID-19 laboratories has increased and, by 1 July 2020, was 163. On 29 July 2020, for the first time, the number of specimens examined in a day reached more than 30 000, achieving the WHO testing capacity target of 1 in 1000 inhabitants per week.