Emerging Pandemic Threats Program
PREDICT • RESPOND • PREVENT • IDENTIFY
August 2012 RESPOND Update
Continued Development of the Makerere University One Health
Residency Program
UMN, Minnesota
The UMN RESPOND team supported Sylvia Wanzala and welcomed Andrew Tamale back to the
campus in an effort to continue the development of the One Health Residency program at
Makerere University, Uganda. Throughout the month, Sylvia continued working on numerous
Veterinary Public Health residency program activities while assisting Andrew with developing
the new OH program for Makerere University. Andrew met with various faculty members and
stakeholders while developing and fine tuning residency planning documents including a
Residency Operations Manual and a Resident Handbook. Michael Mahero, Dom Travis, and
Karin Hamilton, as well as several other UMN colleagues, accompanied Andrew on a trip to
Duluth to meet with University of Minnesota- Duluth faculty members at the Large Lakes
Observatory (LLO). Faculty at the LLO have many current and past research projects based in
several of the large lakes in Africa, including Lake Victoria, Uganda. Andrew returned to Uganda
at the end of the month.
Capacity Development for Wildlife Health Management in Low and
Middle Income Countries Workshop
Lyon, France
Dom Travis helped facilitate the Capacity Development for Wildlife Health Management in Low
and Middle Income Countries day long workshop during the annual Wildlife Disease
Association’s meeting in Lyon, France. The workshop focused on basic capacity needs and
challenges for wildlife disease surveillance and outbreak response and was held at the VetAgroSup, Marcy l’Etoile (the Lyon veterinary school). It was co-hosted by the World Animal Health
Organisation (OIE) and the Saskatoon veterinary school and facilitated by the Training
Resources Group. Both SEAOHUN (South East Asia One Health University Network) and OHCEA
(One Health Central Eastern Africa) sponsored participants and Dean Parnthep, from Mahidol
University, Thailand, spoke at the workshop.
Drs. Rose Ademun and Paul Ssajjakambwe from Uganda Visiting UMN
UMN, St Paul, Minnesota
Dr. Anna Rose Ademun Okurut is the laboratory director for Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture,
Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) National Animal Disease Diagnostics and Epidemiology
Centre (NADDEC). Dr. Paul Ssajjakambwe is a clinical veterinary pathologist on at Makerere
August 2012
Emerging Pandemic Threats Program
PREDICT • RESPOND • PREVENT • IDENTIFY
University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (COVAB),
member of the One Health Central and Eastern Africa (OHCEA) network. The primary purpose
of this two week trip is to continue development of a training partnership between Makerere
University COVAB, Uganda MAAIF and the University of Minnesota, through partnering on
technical program and development of in-service training programs to support the use of a
histopathology scanner in Uganda.
One Health Central Eastern Africa Focal Persons Meet to Plan a Year
of Activities in OHCEA countries
August 20-24, 2012, Kampala, Uganda
Fourteen faculty members from schools of veterinary medicine
and public health in six countries in Africa met in Kampala,
Uganda to develop plans for the new University Network, One
Health Central Eastern Africa (OHCEA). Katey Pelican, Carolyn
Garcia, and Cheryl Robertson from the University of Minnesota,
along with Hellen Amaguni, Jennifer Steele, and Saul Tzipori
from Tufts University, worked with the OHCEA focal persons to
identify opportunities for partnership and innovative programs
to build capacity for responding to emerging pandemic threats
at the country and regional level. Over the next year, OHCEA
plans developed include: 1) Implementing a One Health
Residency at Makerere University in Uganda based on the
highly successful Veterinary Public Health Residency at the
University of Minnesota; 2) Developing and implementing a
One Health training program for district level government One
Health ‘focal persons’ in Kenya; 3) implementing a Global
Health Institute in Tanzania based on the successful University
of Minnesota model previously implemented in India, Uganda
and Thailand; and 4) developing and implementing regional
One Health demonstration sites where cross-disciplinary teams
of students, faculty, and government officials will work
together in training, outreach, and research programs to better
understand and control challenges at the intersection of
wildlife-livestock-humans and the environment. As a partner in
the OHCEA network, University of Minnesota faculty will be
working closely with partners in Africa to implement planned
programs and build capacity for controlling the emergence of
new diseases from animals in Central and Eastern Africa.
August 2012
Emerging Pandemic Threats Program
PREDICT • RESPOND • PREVENT • IDENTIFY
Above: OHCEA institution, UMN, and Tufts faculty members discuss activities for the next year
August 2012