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SHF visits projects in Africa
In July Dr. Adams traveled to east Africa to visit three of SHF’s supported projects: the Community Animal Health Centre (CAHC) in Uganda, and the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project and Umutara University in Rwanda. While there she met with Assistant Director Dr. Innocent Rwego for the annual meeting, as well as to discuss future plans for the Foundation. She visited one of the veterinary student externs supported by SHF and Cornell University, Chelsea Anderson, who spent her summer working with Dr. David Hyeroba at the CAHC. Dr. Adams brought supplies from the United States to hand deliver to Umutara University for use in their veterinary department, including laptop computers and binoculars for the students, and a portable x-ray machine for use in the field. To read more about her visit, check the Silent Heroes Blog.
In October Dr. Adams and Mr. Evans traveled to southern Africa to visit four of SHF’s supported projects: AWARE & the Wild Horizons Wildlife Trust in Zimbabwe, Chobe Wildlife Rescue in Botswana, and rhino conservationist Dr. Jana Pretorius in South Africa. Visiting projects gives Dr. Adams a first-hand look at the challenges each project faces, and a better understanding of the individual needs of each project. It also provides the opportunity for projects to get to know SHF on a more personal basis, and for relationship building between SHF and the project teams, which is a fundamental belief of the Foundation. While in South Africa, Dr. Adams attended the World Veterinary Congress, to raise awareness for our cause and to learn of the current problems and solutions facing veterinarians, scientists, and conservationists in Africa. For a slideshow of pictures from the trip, please visit our Facebook Gallery.
Dr. Adams to speak at Tufts University
Dr. Adams will speak to the veterinary faculty and students at Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine on April 8th, 2011.
SHF and Cornell University partner
SHF and Cornell University partner to offer summer internships to veterinary students. (More information coming soon)
Dr. Rwego Attends the Inaugural Meeting of the African Deans of the Schools of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health
Dr. Rwego recently attended the first inaugural meeting of the African Deans of the Schools of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health, in Uganda. Six countries and 14 Universities were represented at the meeting, and came together to form a network known as ‘One Health Central and Eastern Africa’. Dr. Rwego was involved in the organization of the meeting and helped bring these important members together. This network will collaborate closely with RESPOND in capacity building exercises for disease outbreak response. RESPOND is part of the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats Program - a specialized set of projects that build on the successes of the Agency's 30 years of work in disease surveillance, training and outbreak response. RESPOND will focus on the development of outbreak investigation and response training that merges animal and human health dynamics into a comprehensive capacity of disease detection and control. Incorporating animal and human health epidemiology and disease surveillance, RESPOND will employ an integrated approach that unites public and private sector organizations to combat emerging disease on a global scale. The program will focus on long-term, short-term and in-service training, and academic preparation for health professionals. The program will also seek to establish effective responses to counter outbreaks while they are still within animal populations as well as strengthen the capacity to respond to outbreaks within human communities.
SHF present at the North American Veterinary Conferece
Dr. Adams recently attended the NAVC in Orlando, Florida to raise awareness and garner support for our projects. For more information on this annual conference please visit: www.tnavc.org
Dr. Adams' research on lion lentivirus published in JZWM
Dr. Adams' PhD research on lion lentivirus will be published in the coming issue of the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine. Her manuscript is titled 'Sensitivity and Specificity of a Nested Polymerase Chain Reaction for Detection of Lentivirus Infection in Lions (Panthera leo)'. This publication features her work in South Africa where she developed a unique assay to detect the virus among free-ranging lions.
Dr. Rwego Speaks in Japan
Dr. Rwego presented his paper titled 'Transmission of Human Bacteria to Wild Great Apes: Escherichia Coli as a Model System' at the International Primatological Society Annual Meeting in Kyoto, Japan. Please visit www.ips2010.jp/program.html for more information.
Global Health Institute Course
Dr. Rwego recently participated in the Global Health Institute--Uganda program. This two week course provided an opportunity for students from the United States and from Uganda to meet together with faculty from the University of Minnesota and educational institutions in Uganda to examine the impact of globalization on health and identify strategies that support a healthy and productive global workforce.
The program addressed the issues of health at the interface of humans, animals, and the environment. Participants learned about the skills and knowledge required for health professionals to implement one health strategies for optimal health. The course focused on zoonotic disease, global public health concepts, participatory epidemiology and applied biostatistics within the framework of One Health. The course was held in collaboration with the School of Public Health at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.
For more information about the course, please visit:
www.sph.umn.edu
Silent Heroes is proud to provide sponsorship for the following conferences:
- American Association of Zoo Veterinarians Annual Meeting, in conjunction with the American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians, South Padre Island, Texas, October 23-29th, 2010.
http://www.aazv.org/
http://www.aawv.net/index.html - United States Animal Health Association 114th Annual Meeting, in conjunction with the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians 53rd Annual Conference; Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 11-17th, 2010
http://www.usaha.org/index.shtml
www.aavld.org - Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, December 5-7th, 2010.
cvmbs.colostate.edu - Silent Heroes Foundation attended the 147th American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Annual Convention in Atlanta, Georgia
www.avmaconvention.org
Dr. Adams and Mr. Evans represented Silent Heroes at Booth 339 in the exhibit hall. It was a great opportunity to introduce Silent Heroes Foundation, and we appreciate everyone who stopped by our booth to learn about our work.
