Master of Science in Global One Health: Diseases at the Human-animal Interface (MScGOH) Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp

The Master of Science in Global One Health: diseases at the human-animal interface or MScGOH (formerly Master of Science in Tropical Animal Health or MSTAH) will be offered as a 2-year blended program (mainly web-based with optional face-to-face parts) in collaboration with the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases of the University of Pretoria, South-Africa (UP). The program is designed to allow participants to combine work and study (largely done from your home). It contains the following components: a compulsory induction week, 4 compulsory online core modules, advanced modules that you can choose (to support your specific career path), and a mini-dissertation.

Content: Following an integrated One Health approach, the program focuses on the relationships between infectious and parasitic diseases of animals and humans (zoonoses), diseases, and ecosystem health in order to improve disease control strategies, ecosystem sustainability, food security, and rural development. It will support the building of capacity to meet the challenges to the health of people, livestock, and wildlife at such interfaces and at the same time building capacity that can influence the policy process to increase recognition and realization of the One Health concept when dealing with livestock, human and wildlife diseases in the tropics.

Important: Teaching modalities may be adjusted to fit the Coronavirus outbreak. Face-to-face teaching might be postponed or replaced by online teaching.

The MScGOH primarily aims to address an international audience:

• Involved in tropical livestock and wildlife health, management, and production in support of rural development.
• Wishing to integrate the impact of the diseases and control activities on the local ecosystems in order to increase knowledge and effectiveness of control strategies.

Learning Objectives

• Develop and/or improve strategies to control infectious and parasitic diseases of animals and humans (zoonoses) using a One Health conceptual approach.
• Give recommendations on the control of tropical animal diseases and zoonoses.
• Recognize and assess the economic and public health importance of animal health in Low and Middle-Income Countries.
• Define and apply the concepts and principles of field and laboratory diagnosis of infectious and parasitic diseases of livestock and wildlife including aspects of specimen collection and shipment, interpretation of laboratory results, and basic laboratory management.
• Explain and apply general epidemiological concepts, quantification of disease prevalence and incidence, sampling designs, and basic statistics.
• Plan and undertake a research project, collecting and analyzing experimental and epidemiological data, scientific writing, and preparation and presenting a research protocol.
• Critically assess obtained results and literature.
• Clearly communicate orally and in writing with professional and scientific audiences.
• Effectively work in multidisciplinary teams.

The MScGOH consists of 4 parts:

1. An induction week (if possible in South Africa, otherwise online)
2. Compulsory online core modules (14 ECTS)
3. Elective modules (16 ECTS)
4. A mini-dissertation (30 ECTS)

1. Induction week

Under normal circumstances, the induction week takes place at the Onderstepoort Campus of the University of Pretoria and at the Hans Hoheisen Wildlife Research Station (Kruger National Park). Some parts of the core modules are given during the induction week. This is also an excellent opportunity for students and staff to get to know each other. The induction week will be given online if Covid-19 does not allow us to travel to South Africa.

2. Compulsory online core modules

You can follow these modules from your home.

• Laboratory Diagnostics (3 ECTS)
• Research Methodology (3 ECTS)
• Basic Epidemiology (4 ECTS)
• One Health: Basic Concepts (4 ECTS)

3. Elective modules

A) Theory-based (online) - You can follow these modules from your home.

• Advanced One Health (4 ECTS)
• Advanced One Health: Policy (4 ECTS)
• Animal Health Management: High Impact and Emerging Diseases (4 ECTS)
• Advanced Epidemiology (4 ECTS)
• Surveillance and Survey Methodology (4 ECTS)
• Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases (3 ECTS)
• General Vector-borne diseases (3 ECTS)

B) Skills-based (blended online-bench training)

These modules will partially be given online and will partially take place at the University of Pretoria/ITM (the bench training). Travel to UP or ITM is thus required for these skills-based modules (maximum 2 weeks per module). The location of the practical part depends on the number of students per module and the institution at which the student will do his/her thesis. Exception: the complete Applied Epidemiology module will take place at ITM and will take 2 weeks (no online part). If you want to follow this module, you first have to obtain 60% on the ‘Advanced Epidemiology module.

• Applied Serology (3 ECTS)
• Applied Veterinary Bacteriology (3 ECTS)
• Applied Veterinary Helminthology(3 ECTS)
• Applied Molecular Biology (3 ECTS)
• Applied Veterinary Virology (3 ECTS)
• Selected Tick Identification (3 ECTS)
• Applied Epidemiology (3 ECTS, on-campus only)

4. Mini-Dissertation

Research project: experimental lab work, fieldwork, systematic review, and meta-analysis or epidemiological study.

The MscGOH is a two-year part-time program allowing students to combine work and study. At application, students will have to select electives to build their study plan. The study plan can be adapted in consultation with the course coordinator/thesis supervisor.

The workload for each course corresponds to the number of credits allocated to each course with 1 ECTS being about 25-30 hours of student investment time. The student investment time is the total amount of time that is estimated to be required to obtain the learning outcomes of each course but it can vary among students (some need more or less time). Read through the study guides before selecting a course to see if it is feasible for the time that you have available to study. Your course coordinator is happy to assist you with the calculation of the workload and time investment that needs to be foreseen to successfully complete the course. A final study plan must be submitted by the end of March.