The month of April was marked by several events contributing to the strengthening of health safety in the Seychelles.
Certification of 18 field epidemiologists, handover of equipment, setting up of a national One Health platform, One Health workshop…
National platform: memorandum of understanding signed
On April 19, on the sidelines of the FETP-Frontline certificate award ceremony, the memorandum of understanding to set up the national platform was signed.
Mrs. Peggy Vidot, Minister of Health & Mr. Flavien Joubert, Minister of Agriculture, Climate Change and the Environment, signed this document, thus concretizing a recommendation dating back to 2021.
In concrete terms, this platform aims to strengthen intersectoral coordination.
A third national One Health workshop
Following on from this signature, a One Health workshop was held on April 22 and 23. It brought together human, animal and environmental health professionals from the ministries concerned, as well as from the World Health Organization and Africa-CDC.
The workshop was designed to be practical. Participants were divided into small groups.
First, they had to consider 3 scenarios (avian flu, leptospirosis and antimicrobial resistance) in order to analyze different aspects of intersectoral coordination:
- communication
- monitoring
- risk assessment
- training
- laboratories
- etc.
Conclusion: 4 themes were judged to be the most critical, requiring in-depth analysis:
- Joint monitoring, investigations and interventions in the field
- Human capital (human resources, training, etc.)
- Risk assessment
- Coordination
The second day was therefore initially devoted to gap analysis and the recommendations.
Towards an action plan
The overall aim of the workshop was to draw up a joint action plan.
The group work thus provided a solid basis for formulating the objectives to be achieved and the activities required to improve coordination, with a total of 6 objectives having been defined as priorities. These objectives cover the 4 selected themes.
