Phase II aims to strengthen the capabilities of the animal health workforce across the Asia-Pacific region, equipping them to effectively prevent, detect, and respond to disease outbreaks. Over the last quarter, we have made significant progress in achieving this objective through the following key activities:

APCOVE conducted stakeholder consultations in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Timor-Leste (TL) in collaboration with national partners to understand the current epidemiologic capacity and identify the gaps.

In PNG, focus group discussions were held from 14 to 16 July 2025 by Professor Joerg Henning (University of Queensland), Professor Naomi Cogger and Dr Katja Isaksen (Massey University, New Zealand), and Professor Bruce Gummow (James Cook University, Australia), in partnership with the National Agriculture & Quarantine Inspection Authority (NAQIA) and the PNG APCOVE project leader, Andy Yombo. A total of 15 participants contributed to discussions on local outbreak response and training needs.

In Timor-Leste, focus group discussions took place between 21 and 22 August 2025, led by Professor Joerg Henning (UQ) and Professor Marta Hernandez-Jover (Charles Sturt University, Australia), in collaboration with Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa’e (UNTL) and the Direção Nacional de Veterinária (DNV), and supported by the TL project leader, Abrao Pereira. These sessions engaged 26 participants, offering valuable perspectives on current response systems and future capacity building.

The focus group discussions in both countries provided an opportunity to evaluate outbreak investigation and response capacity, highlight priority training gaps, and design programs tailored to local needs. In addition, APCOVE teams met with project coordinators to plan a questionnaire survey with the frontline veterinary workforce and discuss the structure and logistics of four six-month mentored field research projects to be implemented in each country.

In June, a number of APCOVE’s Australian consortium partners attended the One Health Symposium 2025 in Canberra, Australia. At this event hosted by the interim Australian Centre for Disease Control in partnership with the Australian Government’s One Health Network, experts across Australian Government, state and territory governments, academia, industry and non-profit organisations came together to explore some of Australia’s most pressing health and ecological challenges. APCOVE’s participation in this event recognises the important role our consortium members are playing in advancing One Health approaches at both the country and regional levels. We thank the interim Australian CDC for the opportunity to be involved and look forward to ongoing collaborations. 

Dr Sandra Steele, APCOVE One Health Senior Technical Officer, with APCOVE consortium partners A/Prof Victoria Brookes and Prof Jane Heller. 

Tell us a bit about yourself

I am Isnaniah Bagenda, a participant in the APCOVE Epi Training Batch 1. The journey started from studying independently through e-learning modules until being selected to represent Indonesian participants on a visit to fellows at Melbourne University and Murdoch University for 4 weeks.
As a veterinarian, I work for the Animal Health Centre of the Agriculture and Food Department, Polewali Mandar Regency, West Sulawesi Province, Indonesia.
Apart from being a veterinarian, I also hold a managerial position as head of the animal health centre unit since 2009, with a working area covering 16 sub-districts and 167 villages.
My role as head of the animal health centre, commanding the duties of veterinarians and paravets in animal health services in the work area. 
I also serve as a Regional i-SIKHNAS Coordinator, Regional Veterinary Authority Official (POV), and as a member of the Indonesian Veterinary Medical Association (PDHI), as well as a member of the non-territorial organisations AEEVI (Indonesian Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics Association), ASKESMAVETI (Indonesian Veterinary Public Health Association) and AMERVI (Indonesian Reproductive Medicine Association).

What was the most important thing you learned from the APCOVE Field Epidemiology Training?

Batch 1 training, which began in January 2022, has opened up invaluable opportunities for me as a veterinarian who deals with animal diseases daily. I was able to learn directly from 40 APCOVE epidemiologists from veterinary schools in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and the Asia-Pacific region. It was truly remarkable. Six months of independent study of e-modules, followed by a six-month field project and writing a scientific article, have provided tremendous benefits to my confidence in controlling animal diseases in my work area.

Epidemiological studies, not the only thing I got in this training, but improving the ability to pair field experience with the science of epidemiology is really interesting. Building networks with fellow participants from the Asia Pacific countries has also increased my capacity to develop appropriate strategies in animal disease situations, which are currently a national priority to eradicate.

The title of my field project is a Benefit-Cost Analysis of Brucellosis Vaccination Program in Beef Cattle in Polewali Mandar Regency, West Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. I chose this study because the prevalence of brucellosis in my area continues to increase annually, but no control measures have been implemented due to limited local government funding. I have presented the results of this study to the regional head and will soon be authorised to implement control measures. Making a real contribution to controlling animal diseases in my work area is my biggest goal after completing this training

How have you applied or used these skills in your work?

During this training, I was tasked to coordinate the control of the Jembrana, FMD and ASF outbreaks that occurred simultaneously in my work area, where we had to implement control measures with a limited number of animal health officers. Leadership skills in mobilising our officers are crucial for initiating action and coordinating with all relevant government agencies. Implementing Modules A through F, Leadership, in the e-learning module, really helped me achieve this, and I felt like I was simulating this series of modules. Interesting, isn't it? And the proudest moment we have controlled, even though there are sometimes small outbreaks of cases, until now.

In the last 2 years, there has been an increase in reports of animal diseases in my work area. The ability to detect disease is part of this training, and our animal health officers continue to do so by reporting animal diseases through the ISIKHNAS application as an early warning system that greatly supports us in detecting the emergence of priority animal diseases.

My main target after training is to deliver what I have learned to all animal health workers in the work area, directly in animal health service activities.

I have built an integrated animal health service innovation for farmers who are members of farmer groups and have gone through several special classes through this innovation, and am very happy to be able to do this for them.

This training has built my confidence when I had the opportunity in 2023 to be selected as a facilitator in a training program to increase the capacity of animal health workers for the prevention, mitigation, and management of infectious animal disease outbreaks in Indonesia, supported by the Indonesian Association of Veterinary Faculties (AFKHI). At another time, I also served as a field facilitator in the Integrated Outbreak Investigation Training with a One Health Approach, organised by the Ministry of Health in my work area.

Along with two APCOVE Batch 1 participants, I was invited by Murdoch University-Harry Butler Institute to present on the APCOVE module to participants at the ASEAN-Australia One Health Fellowship Program workshop in Bali, Indonesia, in November 2023.

Furthermore, this training has led me to improve the quality of animal health services, and I have been awarded as the Best Veterinarian in West Sulawesi Province in 2023 and 2024, and as the Second Best Veterinarian in the Public Service Government category from the Indonesian Veterinary Medical  Association (PDHI).

Have you developed any guidelines, SOPs, or implemented significant changes in your department as a result?

I created a non-digital-based animal health service innovation in 2020 and developed it in 2024 by compiling a guideline in the form of a module, one part of which also encourages farmers to be responsive in reporting disease incidents and to be able to implement biosecurity by utilising their respective local potential. From 2024 to 2025, I have implemented this module in several technical guidance meetings for poultry, goat and cattle farmers for the village food security program.

In 2024, I participated in the Workshop on Preparation (Review) of Technical Guidance Materials for Investigation of Animal Diseases FMD and LSD, as well as the Indonesian Veterinary Field Epidemiology Program (PELVI), Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia.

What advice would you give to current APCOVE trainees?

This training is quite rare, and it may be challenging for everyone to obtain. However, nothing is impossible for people as optimistic as you. This is about how to find your own qualities as an expert in handling animal diseases, which is your main task. The learning material in this module is very interesting, supported by videos and articles, and is indeed suitable for supporting your work. You have easily been given access to independent learning.

Manage your time to complete your studies as best as possible with your main assignments, be sure that this is a valuable opportunity that does not come twice.

If you encounter any difficulties in completing the module, utilize the communication media that has been prepared to connect with other training participants and during the interactive session, the experts are really looking forward to discussing with you.

Keep working hard to complete your tasks so that the results of your study can also be presented at international conferences. I and several participants from Batch 1 were sponsored by this program to present the results of our field project at ISVEE 17 Sydney in November 2024. From this program, I have also learned a lot about writing scientific studies based on the results of investigating cases of infectious animal diseases in my region, and I have presented these findings at several national conferences in Indonesia.

If you have been asked to prepare your field proposal, choose a theme related to animal health issues in your work area. The scientific study you will conduct can serve as a policy consideration for your local government. This is the main objective of this training.

We are pleased to introduce our field coordinators from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam in this edition of the newsletter. In future editions, we will continue to introduce the field coordinators from the remaining APCOVE countries.