University of Cape Coast (UCC) – Ghana
Since 2017, the CIHLMU has built a partnership with the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Department of Conservation Biology and Entomology, through a firm collaboration with PhD Dr. Andreas Kudom, one of the CIHLMU PhD Program Alumni, who has completed his thesis on vector biology and control. Together, the UCC and the CIHLMU have identified a training gap and established, in 2018, an 8-day short course. The Advanced Module Vector Biology and Control focuses on vectors, habitats, and their role in disease transmission. Subsequently, the cooperation nucleus was built around this One Health topic and produced several PhD candidates. Finally, the UCC became a CIHLMU One Health Competence Center, with research projects such as the investigation of insect protein for human nutrition and behavioral psychoanalysis towards new mosquito control tools in African countries.
The UCC Ghana and its projects form a cooperation nucleus with other CIHLMU partners in Africa, such as the Mbeya Medical Research Centre in Tanzania, the Catholic University of Beira, in Mozambique, and Jimma University, in Ethiopia. A longitudinal investigation on vectors, habitats, and their role in disease transmission will be scaled up to other CIHLMU African partners during the 2025-2029 project phase to attract more PhD candidates in this subject area. In 2023, an alumni meeting conceived the Advanced Module Pandemic Preparedness, with contributors from Ghana, Kenya, Nepal, Bolivia, and located in Jimma Ethiopia. The network is envisaging to pilot the resulting course soon. In the last years, the UCC One Health Competence Center has been reaching achievements through support by a local coordinator and guest lectureships.
