The 2024 Annual Management Board meeting of Afrique One-REACH was held from 1^st to 7^th February 2024 in Arusha, Tanzania. For the first time after their competitive recruitment, the 61 selected fellows in 2023 met each other together with the senior researchers of the programme. They presented under the coordination of the research clusters’ leaders, their respective research project on One Health to the principal investigators, funders and members of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).

“We are proud to support this generation of early career researchers involved in Afrique One-REACH. The research they are proposing are important and priority for Africa. These include the control and prevention of endemic and emerging zoonoses, risk factors associated with emerging non-communicable diseases and the mitigation of neglected tropical diseases” said Professor Bassirou Bonfoh, Director of Afrique One. 

It was important to bring fellows together in the same place to listen to them, identify their needs, and start to train them on how to work together regardless of their disciplines are to address key health challenges in Africa”, he added.

A 3-day summer school followed with a site visit. The training modules for 2024 were transdisciplinary methods, research design and data collection and analysis. They applied the lessons learnt during a site visit in the village of Naïtoli in Monduli district (Tanzania). They met communities and collected data about livelihood and lifestyle, public health, services and institutions related to Non-Communicable Diseases, Neglected Tropical Diseases and endemic and emerging zoonoses.

“We engaged in a comprehensive programme aimed at fostering African-led research and leadership in health and social sciences. The integration of the One Health approach was my key takeaway, emphasizing the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health. There were various presentations from fellows with great feedbacks from the SAB which underscored the need for collaboration and the development of research networks across Africa to effectively address shared health challenges. It was great to see collaboration among fellows particularly during feedback sessions from the site visit, highlighting the importance of teamwork in research endeavors”, said Dr Caroline Mangaré, a Kenyan Afrique One-REACH postdoc fellow.