Global One Health Special Prize 2024 awarded

Global capacity building through the Global One Health Special Prize

‘Co-hosting this prize helps with global capacity building in One Health. This is one of the goals of my One Health research and investment programme ERRAZE@WUR, Joukje Siebenga, programme lead explains. In 2020, with this programme WUR set out to use the One Wageningen Approach to help reduce the chance of future pandemics.’

Making Global One Health work requires local implementation, around the world

We keep in mind that for a global approach to work, local implementation is key. Moreover, young researchers excel at applying One Health thinking. Our collaboration with the WFF and the FAO on this Prize really gave us the opportunity to hit a number of goals in one effort. The prize winners received US$ 10.000 to help bring their projects to life. For young researchers, this amount of funds can make a big difference, especially when combined with exposure and networking opportunities provided by the WFF.

And the 2024 winner is…. InnovateRVF

This year’s overall winning project is called InnovateRVF, created by team from Somalia led by Dr. Ahmed Abdulkadir Hassan-Kadle. The team combines expertise in animal health, public health, bioinformatics, and ICT. Dr. Aamir Muse Osman represented them in the finals. InnovateRVF aims to spotlight critical gaps in detecting and responding to Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in low-resource, high-risk areas. They say: “Because no surveillance system exists, early signs are often missed at the community level. This is a real problem, given the potentially devastating impact that RVF can have, especially in fragile, livestock-dependent regions vulnerable to climate change. Our solution, InnovateRVF, combines a mobile app and a portable suitcase lab for rapid diagnostics. The app will facilitate community reporting and provide educational content to promote RVF prevention and self-care practices.”

Although the Somali team unfortunately could not attend the WFF in person, the judges still awarded them the overall win. A nice extra financial boost for them to bring their project to life!

The 2023 winners are well underway

Among the 2023 winners is the Indonesia-WUR team PASITIVE. Their project “Palm Waste as Prebiotics to Prevent Avian Influenza”, is impressive, says Joukje. “They really accomplished a lot, and very successfully bridged between different areas of expertise, and different geographical regions. They addressed two separate issues and bent them to a possible solution for both. Palm kernel meal - a waste product from the palm oil industry – gets fermented to form a prebiotic feed additive for poultry, making them more resilient against influenza. Moreover, they were invited and hosted by the Embassy of Indonesia in Rome during their visit to WFF last year.” Keep an eye out for their upcoming research paper.

In another project, under the name Bird Flu Watch, a group of pioneering researchers and entrepreneurs launched an information platform specifically designed for smallholder farmers. The project is supervised by Dr. Edore Apokodje, Lecturer of Computer Science at Aberystwyth University in the UK. “With increasing mobile phone penetration and rural connectivity among smallholder farmers, this platform aims to build on this momentum by providing accessible, offline information that can improve the health of people, animals, and ecosystems” said Dr. Apokodje. The project is a collaboration between farmers, researchers, and the public and private sector, based in Africa and invites people to contribute and connect to Bird Flu Watch.

Building networks

Joukje acknowledges that while the prize money may not fund large projects, it provides a big boost to young researchers. They are enabled to complete significant steps to Proof of Concept, or to better tease out what best approach to their local challenges is. Moreover, the prize gives the teams a podium, that facilitates interactions with their local policy makers, other researchers, or leads to further funding to continue and grow their work.

Building and exchanging knowledge

WUR also supported the 2023 winning teams with a series of One Health webinars. They were organized by Ms. Jackline Owili, a PhD candidate at WUR and a 2023 winner herself, and Ms. Michou Weimar, working on her double master’s degree in Animal Sciences and Bioinformatics.

Jackline's research focuses on the intersection of human, animal, and environmental health, highlighting farmers' local strategies for managing various health risks. She appreciated to work beyond her PhD activities, particularly forming the community of practice platform. The webinars aligned closely with her research interests, and deepened her understanding of the practical application of One Health approach to real-world challenges in the agrifood system. Organizing the webinars connected her with global experts. The project also enabled her to collaborate with staff at ERRAZE@WUR and the One Health division of the FAO. Jackline was invited to speak about her TRC journey at the 2024 flagship event, where she shared her insights on how knowledge and innovation can strengthen the resilience of agrifood systems.

For Michou, working from a One Health perspective enabled her to see the bigger picture: “We humans need healthy ecosystems and wildlife to thrive. Our impact on wildlife can be positive or negative, depending on our choices. Supporting the Global One Health cohort allowed me to explore the connections between humans, livestock, and wildlife. I enjoyed learning from all our speakers and the cohort members, discovering how we can maintain these relationships to ensure all aspects flourish”.

Using the Global One Health approach to help the rising tide to lift all boats

Joukje: “If we don’t aim to optimize the health of all species ánd the world which we share with them, it will eventually cause problems for us all. Unbalanced and degraded ecosystems typically house animals in suboptimal health. Disturbed contact interfaces between species make for enhanced shedding and spreading of pathogens, and increased exchange of pathogens between species. This raises the risk for humans and increases the chances of a future pandemic. So, even if start by improving the health of non-human animals, it will ultimately benefit people too. We should really look to make that rising tide of health lift the boats of not only humans, but also the health of all plants and animals, and the ecosystems we share. Supporting the GOH Special Prize helps us in the right direction.”