Feminist Focused One Health Community Partnerships

This project aims to improve health outcomes in rural communities especially among marginalized women and girls by applying a One-Health approach to preventing and responding to zoonotic diseases in Ethiopia Ghana and Uganda. Project activities include: (1) providing training for women and girls on leadership roles in One Health; (2) establishing linkages by water sanitation and hygiene groups targeting the prevalence of zoonotic diseases due to community practices; (3) providing demonstration sessions for women smallholder farmers on One Health prevention of zoonoses and climate-smart; (4) developing women’s model farming demonstration sites; and (5) creating a women-centered microfinance savings and loan program. The University of Saskatchewan in collaboration with various local partners implements this project. This project expects to reach approximately 99 000 direct and indirect beneficiaries in nine rural communities in three countries in Ethiopia Ghana and Uganda.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved healthy community-level behaviours and practices of safe human-animal-environment interactions that support women and girls' participation and decision-making in One Health; (2) increased community use of One Health approaches especially by women and girls to predict prevent respond and mitigate transmission of zoonotic diseases which have a significant public health impact locally regionally nationally; and (3) improved gender equitable health practices for safe human-animal-environment interactions with a particular focus on rural poor and Indigenous women and girls.