Community One Health Empowerment in Rwanda and Senegal

This project aims to improve health outcomes in rural communities and especially among marginalized women and girls by applying a One Health approach to preventing and responding to zoonotic diseases. Project activities include: (1) increasing the capacity of One Health actors to improve local cross-sectoral coordination referral and reporting of zoonoses; (2) increasing access to needed resources for zoonoses control including vaccines testing supplies and treatments; (3) strategic recruitment of women to fill gaps in human and health personnel; (4) development of climate-resilient water sanitation and hygiene infrastructure for prevention and control of zoonoses; (5) strengthening the capacity of communities especially women and girls to prevent and respond to zoonoses; and (6) undertaking research to strengthen the evidence base for and integration of effective gender-responsive One-Health approaches in marginalized communities. This project is being implemented by Veterinarians Without Borders in collaboration with WaterAid Canada the University of Guelph the Institute of Health Economics and various local partners including the University of Global Health Equity and Agronomists and Veterinarians Without Borders Senegal.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased community application of gender-responsive One Health approaches to prevent detect and respond to zoonotic diseases; (2) improved gender-responsive and healthy community-level behaviours and safe practice of human-animal-environment interactions especially among women and girls; and (3) increased integration of evidence-based best practices into planning and decision-making to apply One Health at the community level.