Breaking professional silos to combat brucellosis: a pilot feasibility and proof-of-concept study of interprofessional education to strengthen healthcare capacity in Côte d'Ivoire.

INTRODUCTION: Brucellosis is a neglected zoonotic disease of major public health importance in Côte d'Ivoire, where it remains underrecognized in the human health sector despite prioritization under the Global Health Security Agenda. This study aimed to identify knowledge gaps among health professionals and explore the feasibility of a pilot interprofessional education (IPE) intervention to strengthen One Health collaboration for improved disease recognition and management. METHODOLOGY: The study comprised two phases. First, a baseline cross-sectional survey was conducted in March 2024 among 54 human and animal health professionals in the Hambol region to assess knowledge of brucellosis and other febrile illnesses. Findings informed the development of a one-day IPE training workshop. In the second phase, the intervention was implemented in February 2025 with 22 participants from medical, veterinary, and public health institutions as a pilot feasibility and proof-of-concept exercise. Knowledge was measured before and immediately after training across domains including general understanding, transmission, symptoms, diagnosis, and control to assess short-term learning gain. RESULTS: The baseline survey showed that 90.7% of respondents were aware of zoonoses, but only 38.8% identified brucellosis, with significantly greater awareness among veterinarians (81.3%) than human healthcare workers (23.3%; p < 0.001). Brucellosis was not cited as a cause of fever or miscarriage. Following the training, significant improvements were in overall knowledge scores (34.5 to 37.0; p < 0.005) and symptom recognition (4.9 to 5.9; p < 0.005), while knowledge related to diagnostic and control remained unchanged. CONCLUSION: The findings revealed importance awareness gaps among human healthcare workers and suggested that IPE is a feasible approach for strengthen One Health collaboration and improving knowledge of zoonotic disease. Larger studies with longer-up are needed to assess sustained effects on clinical practice, surveillance, and disease control in Côte d'Ivoire.