A delegation from the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire (CSRS) led by Professor Bassirou Bonfoh, Director of Afrique One at the CSRS, is participating in the 4th annual meeting of PREPARE4VBD held in Entebbe (Uganda) from 5 to 8 May 2025. ”PREdict and prePARE for emerging Vector Borne Diseases (PREPARE4VBD)” is a consortium funded by the European Union that focuses on innovative tools and methods for monitoring vectors and diseases transmitted by vectors to humans and animals. These vectors, ticks, mosquitoes and molluscs transmit a handful of diseases (e.g. Rift Valley fever) that affect and threaten the health of populations and the economy of African and European populations. The CSRS delegation was joined by Professor Mahama Touré, Director of the Centre d’Entomologie Médicale et Vétérinaire (CEMV) de Côte d’Ivoire, whose institution was the subject of a situational analysis of the curriculum in relation to the subject in question.

The joint CSRS/CEMV team presented two posters and a policy brief. She moderated two panel discussions on (i) the effectiveness and feasibility of innovations, (ii) the potential of integrating the One Health approach into the basic training of universities. 

Both posters address issues related to community engagement in the co-construction of knowledge in research and interdisciplinary intersectoral collaboration in research for the control of vector-borne diseases. 

Innovative Action (Poster 1): Multisectoral and Community-Based Interventions for Sustainable Dengue Control in Abidjan (Dr. Julien Zahouli, CEMV/CSRS)

Community Engagement (Poster 2): Co-construction of knowledge in stakeholder engagement workshops in health research (Dr. Kathrin Heitz-Tokpa, Afrique One/CSRS)

Policy brief: Integration of One Health principles into next-generation university education capable of improving prevention, detection and response to vector-borne diseases (Dr. Richard Yapi, CEMV/CSRS)

On the subject of integrating the One Health approach into training curricula, an exchange of experiences around a panel of researchers from Côte d’Ivoire (Prof Mahama Touré, DG CEMV), Uganda, Kenya and South Africa was held on Thursday, May 8, 2025 at Makerere University in Uganda. This panel was moderated by Professor Bonfoh who brought Afrique One’s two decades of experiences and learning to the audience.

“A reform of health-related training programmes is needed with an integration of the core principles and competencies of the One Health approach to better equip policymakers, researchers, health professionals and communities to anticipate and respond to future threats from vector-borne diseases.”

Professor Bassirou Bonfoh, Director of Afrique One at the CSRS

Vector-borne diseases (excluding malaria and schistosomiasis) account for 17% of the burden of diseases and cause nearly 700,000 deaths each year. Vectors and transmitted diseases know no borders. This calls for international collaboration (Europe-Africa). The CSRS is part of the consortium and offers PREPARE4VBD its expertise in community and policy engagement across Afrique One. The CSRS hosted the kick-off meeting in November 2021 during the second wave of COVID-19. 

Some key findings of PREPARED4VBD are:

1. Fasciolosis is a zoonosis and fall into neglected disease
2. Fast and cheap test without a lab, with eDNA-disease detection
3. Microscope detect parasite eggs automatically with adapted AI Mini-FlOTAC
4. Potential of One Health in universities VBDs curricula 
5. Early prediction of Rift Valley Fever with model

Emmanuel Dabo/ASCA