June 21, 2019
Veterinary faculty participate in continuing education course at Sokoine University in Tanzania
A group of faculty from the College of Veterinary Medicine consisting of Robert Larson, Mike Sanderson, Nora Schrag and Tesfaalem Sebhatu recently traveled to Tanzania as part of the USA-Tanzania Veterinary Education Twinning Partnership.
The faculty participated in the Continuing Education for East Africa region course — this region includes Tanzania, which is at its starting phase and is not yet fully developed. One of the objectives of the Veterinary Education Twinning Project is to jointly develop and deliver continuing education programs that reinforce the acquisition of OIE Day 1 Competencies for global veterinarians. The overall objective of continuing education is to expand knowledge, hone skills and continuously improve the quality of veterinary practice that can be offered by veterinarians to the public and private sector.
In Tanzania, it has recently become mandatory for veterinarians to undergo a continuing professional development processes. Provision of continuing professional development is also considered during the accreditation of the Sokoine University of Agriculture by the Veterinary Statutory Body, or the Veterinary Council of Tanzania. Kansas State University has been working with Sokoine to develop and prepare the continuing education content and training materials for the June course at Sokoine. The course topics were focused on infectious and noninfectious infertility in cattle and poultry diseases (involving a mix of applied science and theory), practical necropsy, sampling methods and shipment of biological materials, disease control programs and biosecurity.
In the weeklong continuing professional development course, 32 veterinarians working at the public and private services from Tanzania attended.