One Risk

West and Central Africa

Challenge

The One Risk program embraces the One Health approach to prevent and control health threats at the interface between production animals, wildlife and humans. Examples of such threats in Africa includes rabies, anthrax, brucellosis, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), cysticercosis, Ebola, trypanosomiasis, etc. Action toward addressing these threats should be guided by available evidence and requires cross-sector collaboration efforts – at national, regional and international levels. 

Solution

One Risk is a capacity-building initiative in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) to strengthen assessments of health risks at the interface between production animals, wildlife and humans. The quantitative analysis of available surveillance data and risk modeling will inform the response to these risks. This program is free of cost to participants.

Funded by USDA-APHIS and supported by WOAH, and with an initial focus in West and Central Africa, One Risk’s goals are to:

  • improve animal health and surveillance systems, including One Health systems; and promote safe and fair trade at the regional and international level;
  • strengthen communication within and between countries and regions, and at international level; and
  • foster regional collaboration & research.

What is One Risk?

The One Risk capacity building framework aims to: 

  • Collaboratively identify and evaluate current disease surveillance data in production animals, and at the interface of wildlife and humans.
  • Understand epidemiology and health risks connecting production animals, humans & wildlife.
  • Improve disease surveillance and response capabilities while fostering regional and international trade in production animals and related commodities.
  • Assess regional capabilities in disease surveillance, assessment, and response.
  • The project will take place in West and Central Africa in 2024 and early 2025.
  • It will involve participants ranging from management and strategic decision-makers to technical trainees, specializing in animal health, public health & zoonoses, and wildlife disease.

The project aims to create and strengthen sustainable capacity in the West and Central Africa region, ensuring effective management of animal and public health issues and safety of trade of animals and their commodities through evidence-based policy and collaborative efforts.

  • Training on the Job: Mentoring provides hands-on training for long-term skill acquisition, tailored to attendees’ work.
  • Participation: Up to 10 teams of 3-5 trainees will engage in the program for 6-8 months.
  • Project focus: Teams will work on a variety of topics, contributing insights to enhance surveillance and inform policy and response strategies for health risks.

West Africa:

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo

Central Africa:

Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Chad, São Tomé & Principe

  • Application deadline:
    • Individual applications: 5:00pm (GMT), March 22, 2024
    • Team applications: 5:00pm (GMT), March 29, 2024
  • Selection process completion: Mid April, 2024
  • Online meetings: May, 2024
  • In-person workshop (Dakar): June 10– 14, 2024
  • Three-week online class: June 24 – July 19, 2024
  • Mentored projects: July 2024 – Q1 2025
  • Second in-person workshop: Late Q1, 2025

Now closed to new applications

One Risk participants gathered together at the inaugural 4-day workshop held in Dakar, June 2024.

Project supported by

This project is made possible  through a contribution of USDA-APHIS, in collaboration with WOAH.

Sustainable Development Goals

This project contributes to several of UN’s sustainable development goals 

THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development (un.org)