Bassirou Bonfoh, Director of Afrique One, facilitating the validation process
Against a backdrop of rising vector-borne diseases exacerbated by climate change, the Centre d’Entomologie Médicale et Vétérinaire (CEMV) of Université Alassane Ouattara (UAO) in Bouaké, in partnership with the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire (CSRS) and the Plateforme Une Seule Santé de Côte d’Ivoire (PLUSS), is reaching a decisive milestone. At a validation workshop, academic experts and institutional partners endorsed the curriculum for a new One Health Master’s program. This is a direct, practical response to a gap in the national academic landscape, positioning Côte d’Ivoire at the heart of the regional public health response.
Although Côte d’Ivoire established a national One Health platform in 2019 to coordinate the prevention of and response to zoonoses and emerging threats, the absence of a dedicated national university program to train the next generation of professionals remained a weak link. While Senegal, Benin, Togo and Belgium already offer structured programs, the CEMV validation workshop seeks to address this imbalance by drawing on international and sub-regional best practices.
An inter-State institution with an inherently cross-sectoral profile
The decision to host this program at CEMV was a natural choice. As an institution with an inter-State mandate that already provides training in medicine, veterinary medicine and agriculture, the Centre has cross-sectoral collaboration at the heart of its mission — an essential feature of the One Health approach.
The workshop focused on presenting the curriculum, reviewing the evaluation report from UAO’s academic bodies, and conducting a comparative analysis of existing Master’s programs internationally. These discussions helped refine an educational offering grounded in the actual needs of the labour market.
A hybrid program focused on action and employability
At the heart of the discussions, the choice between a research-based and a professionally oriented Master’s program resulted in a pragmatic hybrid model designed to train highly skilled scientists who can put their expertise into practice immediately. The program will recruit candidates from diverse backgrounds, including biologists, veterinarians, medical doctors, agronomists, and environmental scientists, and equip them with skills in high demand among decision-makers:
- Integrated surveillance and predictive modelling of epidemic risks under changing climatic conditions, including the use of geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing.
- Multisectoral governance and cost-effectiveness analysis of public health interventions.
- Crisis communication and community engagement to promote behavioural change.
Assessment will prioritize the acquisition of practical skills, culminating in a six-month field placement involving cross-sectoral immersion through action research.
A call for political decision-makers to get involved
Supported by a strong network of partners, including the Afrique One-REACH consortium, the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire (CSRS) and the PREPARE4VBD project, and aligned with the five pillars of the Quadripartite (WHO, FAO, WOAH and UNEP), this Master’s programme is designed to facilitate direct entry into technical ministries, national One Health platforms, NGOs and international agencies.
Experts nevertheless highlighted a crucial issue: the funding model. To ensure the long-term sustainability of this instrument of health sovereignty, support from political decision-makers and donors is essential, including through scholarships, ministerial grants and funds dedicated to climate change adaptation. Investing in the CEMV Master’s programme today means equipping our countries with the expertise needed to anticipate and contain tomorrow’s pandemics.
This initiative is co-funded by the Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur de Côte d’Ivoire, the Plateforme Une Seule Santé de Côte d’Ivoire and Afrique One through the Science for Africa Foundation (SFA).
