International One Health Day celebration in Uganda
November 2021: Uganda Fleming Fund Policy Fellows Musa Sekamatte and Michael Kimaanga participated in the 6th International One Health Day celebration held in Uganda on 2-3 November.
Uganda is threatened by a number of One Health challenges, including the emergence of antimicrobial resistance and zoonotic infectious diseases, which pose a major threat to human, animal and environmental health, and affect economic development and public health.
The aim of this year's International One Health Day celebrations in Uganda was to raise awareness of the risks posed by human-animal-ecosystem interactions and to encourage stakeholders to embrace the One Health approach as key to solving these public health challenges.
The themes for this year's celebrations were "Strengthening National One Health Practices" and "Building a More Just and Healthier World" and were led by the National One Health Platform (NOHP) in collaboration with other ministries and supporting partners.
The events were held at Queen Elizabeth National Park in western Uganda to coincide with the commissioning of the Biosafety Level 2 laboratory in Mweya.
Support from the Fleming Fund
Musa Sekamatte, Senior Epidemiologist at the Ministry of Health, and Michael Kimaanga, Senior Veterinary Inspector at the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, are Fleming Fund Policy fellows currently working with the University of Edinburgh.
In their roles as fellows, Musa and Michael both gave perspectives at the One Health Day celebrations on the challenges posed by the rise of antimicrobial resistance, and the impact that the fellowships are making to their work to address these challenges.
In his presentation Musa discussed causes of AMR in Uganda, including over-prescription and inappropriate use of antibiotics in both humans and animals, and the need for programmes to help better inform and educate wider public audiences.
Both fellows receive support from their mentor, Professor Lisa Boden at the University of Edinburgh.