0
Today, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) signed a letter of intent to establish a ‘One Health Research, Education and Outreach Centre for Africa’ (OHRECA) to be hosted by ILRI, which is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. Coming one week after global celebrations of One Health Day, on 3 November, Germany’s parliamentary state secretary, Maria Flachsbarth, and ILRI’s deputy director general, Dieter Schillinger, signed the letter of intent in Nairobi, Kenya to formalize this initiative.
Establishment of this new One Health centre in and for Africa will enhance the health of people, animals and the environment alike by tackling the health problems in all three sectors jointly and holistically. Specifically, the new centre will help develop greater capacity, support One Health initiatives on the continent and refine pathways leading from evidence to policy and practice.
OHRECA will cooperate with other One Health initiatives to reduce incidences of ‘zoonotic’ diseases.
Several large-scale projects funded by BMZ are already employing One Health approaches. These include ‘Safe Food, Fair Food’ and ‘BUILD Uganda’ projects funded by BMZ and led by ILRI. ILRI and its partners have been investigating diseases that affect both people and animals in an ecosystem context for more than four decades.
OHRECA will draw on the expertise, resources and state-of-the-art research facilities of several centres of excellence operating within ILRI. These include ILRI’s Mazingira Centre, which is tackling problems at the interface of livestock, the environment and climate change; a newly established CGIAR Antimicrobial Resistance Hub, a global research and development partnership for reducing agricultural-associated antimicrobial resistance; and Biosciences for eastern and central Africa Hub, a shared agricultural research and biosciences platform that increases access to affordable, world-class research facilities for capacity building, training and development.
Through OHRECA, BMZ and ILRI look forward to working with Africa’s One Health experts to bring together communities, policymakers and scientists to tackle the continent’s shared animal, human and environmental health problems.
November 11, 2019 - ILRI
