One Health Student Club – A Practical and Sustainable Way to Train One Health in Vietnam

Abstract

Purpose: Besides the official One Health (OH) training modules that have been taught for students in class, One Health student club (OHSC) is an initiative and a playground for students to apply OH theories into specific practical activities and benefit the community. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the effectiveness of student clubs in training OH through Vietnamese student's lens. Methods & Materials: We carried out a cross-sectional study using the web-based approach in June 2019. An invitation to participate in the online survey was sent to 1500 undergraduate students who were studying human and animal health in all 20 member universities of Vietnam One Health University Network. Key information collected was participating in OHSC, the most effective methods of training OH, rating experience of joining OHSC, and sustainability of OHSC activities in the future. Descriptive statistics were used as the main indicators to analyze data. Results: Among a total of 1043 students responding to our survey, there were 388 students participated in OHSC. Of those, 64.9% were female and 63.1% were studying in human health fields. OHSC was ranked the first in the top three most effective ways to train OH with 73.2% of participants voted. The most useful OHSC activities were field experience (51.8%), followed by club's knowledge competitions (15.7%). There were 90.7% of students who agreed or completely agreed that OHSC has helped them to improve knowledge and skills related to OH, 88.4% said that OHSC has provided opportunities for them to get more practical experience related to their future careers. In the next coming years, if the One Health Workforce project no longer funded OHSC activities, 82.2% of students were willing to pay some fees to join the club. Of which, the percentages of willing to pay for less than $1, $1-2, $2-4, above $4 US per month were 39.2%, 43%, 8.8%, and 9.1% respectively. Conclusion: From the undergraduate's perspective, OHSC was one of the best ways to train OH in Vietnam effectively and sustainably. This model should be maintained and strengthened to promote the OH approach widely in our country.