Tuesday, November 12 was the date chosen by the Afrique One-ASPIRE program to celebrate World One Health Day.
This celebration happened in the form of a conference debate for the press on the theme “Impact of One Health Research on Health Systems”. It took place at the Centre Suisse de Recherche Scientifique en Côte d’Ivoire (CSRS) in Abidjan, a research institution pioneering One Health research in Africa and the headquarters of the Afrique One –ASPIRE program.

In the presence of the Director of the institution (CSRS), Prof Inza Koné, and the Director of the Afrique One-ASPIRE program, Prof Bassirou Bonfoh, the program’s post-doctoral researchers presented their research outcomes and main achievements.
This meant that in auditoriums and also by video link, each postdoc presented how the implementation of the One Health approach has influenced his or her research. They also highlighted the influence of their work on health problems at the animal-human interface, particularly in the fight against rabies, brucellosis, tuberculosis and food-related diseases.

Prof. Karim Ouattara, who is in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation of Afrique One-ASPIRE, welcomed the progress that has been made in the implementation of One Health at the level of decision-makers in Côte d’Ivoire and in the West African sub-region. The collaborative work between researchers of the Afrique One-ASPIRE program and government authorities in Tanzania in the fight against rabies was also noted. In fact, each local authority of the Mara region in Tanzania where rabies is endemic, pledged 5 million Tanzanian shillings (2178 USD) in support of mass dog vaccination activities that began last October. These advances also concern the involvement and the participation of the local communities, who have been integrated more and more in the different stages of implementation of One Health.

After the exchange phase, journalists and researchers present were invited to a poster session in the gardens of the center. This part of teh conference was driven by the MSc and PhD fellows of Afrique One-ASPIRE.