Tropical Animal Health – (M.Sc.)

Contents

The MSTAH is organised in collaboration with several Belgian and foreign universities and with the help of experts from the European Union, veterinary research institutes and consultancy firms. The modular structure of the course and the possibility to choose between two elective parts (animal disease control or epidemiology) allows adaptation of the program to the needs of individual participants. Most modules of MSTAH are open to external students.

The whole training course represents 60 ECTS credits and has 3 main components:

* The common part consisting of a single module “Research methodology in Animal Health” * counts for 10 credits.
* The second part counts for 25 credits and consists of 2 options of equal length
Candidates choose between:
* Option 1 “Epidemiology”: It includes following modules: Introductory statistics and epidemiology*; Geographical information systems*; Risk analysis* and Epidemiology of specific disease situations (a team work carried out by participants from both options in order to stimulate interdisciplinary collaboration).
* Option 2: “Control of animal diseases and important zoonoses.”: This option includes the following modules: Molecular biology and laboratory diagnosis*; Control of vector-borne diseases*; Control of infectious diseases*; Control of helminthic diseases* and Epidemiology of specific disease situations. The (the last module “Epidemiology of specific disease situations” is part of both options to stimulate interaction between the two groups.both disciplines).


* The third part of the MSc programme consists of personal research work, carried out under the guidance of a supervisor. The resulting thesis is defended before an examination board and counts for 25 ECTS credits. The work will often encompass the application of techniques acquired during the training. Participants are encouraged to work for their MSTAH project on data, obtained from a particular situation in their home country. The Department of Animal Health or other research institutes may also put relevant data at their disposal.

* Modules marked with an asterisk can be followed separately.

Objectives of the course programme The overall objectives of the core module are to:

* Provide participants with the necessary skills to organize research activities on animal health in a context of sustainable livestock development in low and middle income countries,
* Increase the participant’s capacity in the field of data collection and data encoding,
* Strengthen the participants’ scientific writing and presentation of research results.

The objectives of the option “Epidemiology” are to:

* Provide candidates with the necessary tools to analyse experimental and epidemiological data, interpret results reported in the literature and design simple studies;
* Increase the skills of the students in survey design and survey data analysis;
* Allow candidates to perform a detailed risk analysis in the context of veterinary epidemiology;
* Make the participant familiar with the use of geographical information systems, so that his or her skills to understand epidemiological processes and to elaborate decision making support systems are enhanced;
* Apply the theory acquired in epidemiology, diagnosis and disease control on a specific case study.

The objectives of the option on “Disease Control” are to:

* Familiarise the students with the main concepts of molecular biology, the laboratory diagnostic techniques and the principals of good laboratory practice;
* Provide candidates with basic epidemiological knowledge;
* Provide basic knowledge and technical skills to improve integrated control of vector-borne diseases, in particular those transmitted by ticks or tsetse flies;
* Familiarise the participants with selected infectious diseases to allow them to collaborate actively and efficiently in a control programme;
* Provide an introduction to the control of helminth infections of economic or public health importance in the tropics; • Allow candidates to apply the theory acquired in epidemiology, diagnosis and disease control on a specific disease situation.