Capstone Session - Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka

Talk: Integrating Health and People in Gorilla Conservation

Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) is an award-winning grassroots NGO and non-profit founded in 2003 that promotes biodiversity conservation by enabling people to co-exist with wildlife through improving animal health, community health and livelihoods in and around Africa’s protected areas and wildlife-rich habitats. Following a fatal scabies disease outbreak in the then critically endangered mountain gorillas, traced to marginalized human communities living around the protected gorilla habitat, CTPH developed a One Health approach to conservation that addresses human, animal and environmental health together.

CTPH’s programs began at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda, home to 43% of the world’s mountain gorillas. The One health model improved community health and contributed to a reduction in human-related morbidity and mortality in gorillas. This model also improved community attitudes to conservation, and led to better protection for gorillas in community land. CTPH built upon this One Health model to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, working with Uganda Wildlife Authority, NGOs, tour operators and community groups, to prevent transmission of COVID-19 between people and from people to gorillas and improving community livelihoods in the absence of tourism through provision of fast growing food crops and Gorilla Conservation Coffee, a social enterprise that supports coffee farmers living next to gorillas. Through organic expansion, training and advocacy this model is being expanded to biodiversity hotspots.

CTPH is also advocating for integrated approaches to achieve a planet in balance through a book – Walking With Gorillas - about Dr. Kalema-Zikusoka’s conservation journey shaped by One Health.

Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is the founder and CEO of CTPH. Her academic pedigree includes the Royal Veterinary College at the University of London, North Carolina State University, Duke University, the INSEAD Business School, the University of Milan and Tangaza University College. An accomplished wildlife veterinarian, conservationist, and speaker, her achievements have been recognized by many groups, including the ASM, UNEP, National Geographic, and the Tusk Trust.