Infectious Diseases Management

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Overview of Infectious Disease Management Module

Today, many of the emerging diseases are of zoonotic and epidemic nature. A recent example is the Ebola virus. Majority of the newly recognized infectious agents responsible for emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) originate in animals, including wildlife (e.g. severe acute respiratory syndrome [SARS], highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1, the pandemic influenza A/H1N1 2009 virus, and Nipah, West Nile virus Rift Valley fever, and Ebola viruses. They involve complex interactions between human, animal and the environment as well as socio-economic circumstances intertwined with ignorance and poverty. Infectious disease management requires collaboration across sectors to achieve more rapid, mutually beneficial and effective responses. This collaboration requires a comprehensive and strategic way of thinking about the problem of infectious diseases in order to minimize the impact.

This Infectious Disease Management Module will help participants to get a better understanding of infectious disease management from One Health perspective, at both the individual, organizational and community levels. The module will provide participants with insights into: definition of key concepts, infectious diseases risk factors, development, implementation of infectious disease management plans and evaluation of infectious disease management activities.

One Health is defined as the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals and the environment. The One Health paradigm emerged from the recognition that the wellbeing of humans, animals and ecosystems are interrelated and interdependent, and there is need for more systematic and cross-sectoral approaches to identifying and responding to global public health emergencies and other health threats arising at the human-animal-ecosystem interface. One Health concept is, therefore, a worldwide strategy for expanding interdisciplinary collaborations and communications in all aspects of health care for humans, animals and the environment. The synergism achieved will advance health care for the 21st century and beyond by accelerating biomedical research discoveries, enhancing public health efficacy, expeditiously expanding the scientific knowledge base, and improving medical education and clinical care. When properly implemented, it will help protect and save untold millions of human and animal lives in present and future generations.

This Infectious Disease Management Module is one of the sixteen modules developed by One Health Central and East Africa (OHCEA), a network of 21 schools of public health and veterinary medicine in East and Central Africa for the purposes of building capacity in these institutions to prevent, detect and respond to any emerging pandemics using One Health approach. This module aims at introducing participants to the basic principles of preventing, detecting, and responding to infectious disease outbreaks in the context of One Health. The module uses One Health approach to examine various important infectious diseases of humans and animals and to help participants understand the fundamentals of infectious disease ecology and their impacts on humans, animals and the environment.

Key outcomes of the module are the ability to:

1. i)  illustrate One Health concept as it relates to infectious disease management.
2. ii)  explain the relationship between humans, animals, and the environment in infectious disease transmission.
3. iii)  understand the role of surveillance in infectious disease management.
4. iv)  apply multi-disciplinary approaches to infectious disease investigation, response and management.

Target Audience

This module can be used by undergraduate and post-graduate learners, middle cadre trainees and in-service personnel from multiple disciplines and sectors (private, public, non-governmental organizations, civil society). The module can also be adopted for continuous professional development by health professional organizations such as the medical, pharmacy and veterinary associations. Also nursing, public health, environmental scientists, biotechnologists/laboratorians, wildlife officers, biostatisticians, epidemiologists, logisticians, social scientists, anthropologists and probably the media can use the module.

Goals of the Module

The module is designed to produce competent professionals able to identify and respond to infectious disease outbreaks utilizing One Health approach.

At the end of the module, participants should be able to:

1. i)  use the One Health approach to manage emerging infectious diseases, including emerging zoonotic infectious agents and newly identified infectious agents capable of causing pandemic threats.
2. ii)  have knowledge and skills to work in multi-disciplinary teams in disease outbreak investigation and management.
3. iii)  acquire skills/knowledge on standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines for responding to severe infectious diseases outbreak
4. iv)  know the principles of infection control and personal protection for responders in infectious disease management (including donning and doffing coveralls used for instance in Ebola and Marburg).
5. v)  be aware of gender dynamics and apply gender-sensitive approaches to emerging pandemic prevention, control, surveillance and response. Also be knowledgeable about cultural and religious issues in communities as these play a great role in infectious diseases management/ control and transmission.
6. vi)  be knowledgeable about leadership principles for the detection and response towards infectious diseases.
7. vii)  be able to communicate risks associated with infectious diseases.
8. viii)  be knowledgeable about logistics management in infectious diseases outbreak investigation. This component is very important for an effective investigations and control of infectious diseases outbreak.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, participants should be able to:

1. i)  illustrate the One Health concept as it relates to infectious disease management.
   1. (a)  Describe the One Health concept.
   2. (b)  Apply One Health core competencies in multiple disciplines.
2. ii)  identify emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases.
   1. (a)  Describe the interactions between humans, animals and the environment and their roles in disease occurrence and spread.
   2. (b)  Outline patterns of occurrence and spread of infectious disease causing agents and their determinants.

(c) Describe the various disease surveillance strategies and indicators of emergence or re- emergence of infectious diseases.

3. iii)  design One Health tailor-made response strategies to fit infectious disease outbreak situations.
   1. (a)  Explain the common principles in infectious disease outbreak response.
   2. (b)  Illustrate the roles and management approaches for multi-disciplinary response teams in disease outbreak investigation and management.
4. iv)  apply gender-sensitive approaches to infectious disease management.
   1. (a)  Describe the basic principles and concepts in gender, culture, beliefs and ethics.
   2. (b)  Illustrate the role of gender, culture, beliefs and ethics in infectious disease management.
5. v)  apply effective risk communication principles and approaches to infectious disease response management strategies.
   1. (a)  Describe the key concepts and strategies for effective risk communication in infectious disease management.
   2. (b)  Illustrate risk communication strategies for various target groups.
6. vi)  Apply the principles of infection control and personal protection in infectious disease management.
   1. (a)  Describe the basic principles of infectious disease occurrence and transmission patterns.
   2. (b)  Evaluate infectious disease risk and the appropriate infection control.
   3. (c)  Design personal protection protocol for responders in infectious disease management.

INFECTIOUS DISEASE MANAGEMENT