Molecular Epidemiology Training Needs Assessment Among Public Health Laboratory Workforce in Oyo State

Molecular epidemiology integrates nucleic acid-based typing, sequencing, and phylogenetic tools with classical epidemiological analysis to investigate disease transmission, outbreak dynamics, and population-level pathogen evolution. Building a competent public health laboratory workforce capable of applying these approaches is a national priority for Nigeria's epidemic preparedness infrastructure. This study assessed the molecular epidemiology training needs of public health laboratory workers in Oyo State, Southwest Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 120 laboratory scientists employed in state, LGA, and sentinel surveillance laboratories. The survey assessed current molecular competencies, training history, identified skill gaps, and preferred learning modalities. Field competency was further assessed through structured practical exercises on pathogen typing and phylogenetic tree interpretation. Only 34% of respondents had received formal training in any molecular epidemiology methodology within the preceding five years. Major self-reported skill gaps included next-generation sequencing data interpretation (78%), whole-genome sequencing-based cluster analysis (82%), and bioinformatics tools operation (74%). The findings demonstrate a significant and broad molecular epidemiology capacity gap across the Oyo State public health laboratory workforce and provide a needs-driven framework for designing competency-based training modules tailored to Nigeria's disease surveillance priorities. Keywords: molecular epidemiology, training needs assessment, laboratory workforce, capacity building, Oyo State.