News

" ... The GCP project has served as a pilot initiative for participatory OH education, contributing to the development of OH core competencies in medical students, particularly in systems thinking, international communication, and interdisciplinary collaboration. ..."

Abstract

Objectives

To develop One Health (OH) core competencies in medical students, Shanghai Jiao Tong University has conducted an OH practice project named the “Global Challenge Program” (GCP) for three years. This study aims to understand the outcomes and challenges of the pilot projects, thereby providing evidences to support the expansion of One Health education program on a larger scale.

Conclusions

The GCP project has served as a pilot initiative for participatory OH education, contributing to the development of OH core competencies in medical students, particularly in systems thinking, international communication, and interdisciplinary collaboration. However, generalizing the experience of the pilot project to a large-scale education program for medical students requires careful revisit of the gaps of resources and talents in curriculum building and project operation.

Introduction

“The recent COVID-19 pandemic, the environmental crisis, and obstacles to achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals have once again underscored the importance of adopting the One Health (OH) approach to address complex health issues [1]. As defined by the One Health High Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP), OH is an integrated, unifying approach that balances and optimizes the health of people, animals, and ecosystems sustainably. It emphasizes interdisciplinary, intersectoral, and cross-domain collaboration at local, regional, and global levels to foster well-being and tackle threats to health and ecosystems [2–5]. In advancing the implementation of OH, the cultivation of high-level professionals possessing interdisciplinary, collaborative, and systems thinking capabilities, serves as a crucial step [6]. Meanwhile, the education program is also in great need of disseminating techniques and knowledge in facilitating the application of OH in practical scenarios [7, 8]. Educational institutions should support government and community efforts by initiating formal frameworks to teach OH principles and approaches so that they can be easily applied in a practical setting [9, 10]. It advocates that OH education needs to include not only the fields of human, animal, and environmental health but also social sciences, economics, laws, etc. [11]. However, the holistic and inclusive perspectives of OH pose challenges in academic training for OH [12, 13].  ...”

SEE: “Global challenge program” projects themed on preventing zoonosis: developing One Health core competences in medical students at SJTU (degruyter.com)

 https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/gme-2024-0004/html