Global One Health News

GOHi and EPHI collaborate on epidemiological surveillance training

The Global One Health Initiative (GOHi) has supported Acute Febrile Illness (AFI) surveillance in Ethiopia in collaboration with the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI). This project aims to strengthen the biosurveillance and laboratory detection capacity of the EPHI for a broad range of pathogens causing AFI in Ethiopia and to inform the public on the magnitude, risk and appropriate prevention and control mechanisms. So far, the team has enrolled more than 1,000 AFI cases and collected samples from five hospitals to test for selected pathogens.

GOHi continues support of AEFI causality assessment in Ethiopia

GOHi is supporting the Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority (EFDA) in undertaking a causality assessment of adverse events following immunizations (AEFI) reported to the national pharmacovigilance system. The team conducted the assessment in January with 33 participants, including the pharmacovigilance advisory committee members and the pharmacovigilance team from the EFDA.

OHEART fellow Rajiha Abubeker publishes in "BMC Infectious Disease"

Sustainable One Health Research Training Capacity (OHEART) fellow Rajiha Abubeker recently published a study titled “Clonal diversity of Staphylococcus aureus isolates in clinical specimens from selected health facilities in Ethiopia” in "BMC Infectious Disease" with GOHi co-authors Wondwossen Gebreyes, Shu-Hua Wang, Zelalem Mekuria and Eyasu Seyoum looking at the diversity of methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates collected from clinical specimens at four antimicrobial resistance (AMR) sentinel surveillance sites in Ethiopia. The molecular epidemiology of S. aureus isolates circulating in Ethiopia has not been well-described previously. A total of 170 confirmed S. aureus isolates, 161 MSSA and 9 MRSA, spanning 2016-2019 from the four AMR Surveillance sites were characterized using multiple molecular methods including Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), Multi Locus Sequence Typing (MLST) and staphylococcal protein A (spa) typing.

External news

Advantages of AI and drones for One Health

"IMPAKTER" recently published an article highlighting the role of AI and drones in progressing One Health at the animal health and environmental health interface. The article specifically discusses Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) (any type of artificial intelligence [AI] that can produce new text, images, video or audio clips; learns patterns from training data and generates new, unique outputs with the same statistical properties) and the expanded use of drones is moving One Health forward not only in human health, but in animal health. GAI can help with prevention and surveillance through analyzing data from electronic health records, environmental sensors, satellite imagery, and social media. This technology can also aid more accurate and rapid diagnosis of disease through analysis of medical images and diagnostics tests.

Clinton Global Initiative announces new fellowship

The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) recently announced a new fellowship to support emerging entrepreneurs. The selected cohort will receive tools and mentorship to create programs that address global challenges. Fellows will also have access to a wide network of experts, be able to attend the CGI Annual Meeting and build relationships with fellow cohort members through virtual and in-person events. Applications close on March 15, 2024.