OHCEA - 1st Africa One Health Conference
The One Health conference was successfully held in Addis Ababa Ethiopia; between 22nd-25th September, 2013. The conference was attended by over two hundred and eighty seven (287) participants with representation from 17 countries in Africa, Asia and America. These are: Burundi, Cameroon, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Malaysia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, United States of America and Vietnam. The location of this first conference was particularly important because Addis Ababa is the home of the African Union.
The Key note address was given by Dr. Dennis Carroll; who currently serves as the Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s USAID Pandemic Influenza and other Emerging Threats Unit. He highlighted a number of key issues which would invariable change the future landscape of global health. These include but are not limited to: an increase in livestock production in Africa from 473 million in1960 to 3.8 Billion by 2050, water scarcity, urbanization, and economic growth, an explosion of communication and internet connectivity and increased mobility which would invariably increase germ mobility. He encouraged the participants to think about how their One Health activities could influence the future global health landscape.
Several session speakers made presentations on the different themes which include: Disease Surveillance, control and prevention; Building health systems, Women’s roles and social economic dynamics of One Health; The environment and infectious disease dynamics; Capacity building in developing nations; Engaging communities in One Health Initiatives; One Health policy, communication and advocacy.
The participants had an opportunity to network with One Health practitioners in different sectors from around the world. Participants also had the rare opportunity of sharing experiences and learning lessons from successful One Health approaches. At the end of the conference; academicians, policy makers and stakeholders agreed to support the development of One Health roadmaps in their respective countries through their activities. Prof. Wambura the Board Chair closed the conference by encouraging participants to look for opportunities to increase knowledge; and translate knowledge into practice.
This conference was made possible through the generous support of USAID through the RESPOND Project. OHCEA acknowledges additional support from its major US partners: University of Minnesota (UMN) and Tufts University, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), World Health Organization (WHO) Ethiopia Country office, AMREF- Ethiopia Country office and Ethiopian Airlines the official conference airline.
Transcript and video available HERE!
