VALIDATE One Health Seminar Two: Health System and Infrastructure Challenges in One Health

In September 2023, members of the VALIDATE network and subject matter experts from around the world convened in Paarl, South Africa, to explore the application of the One Health model in the development of vaccines for Tuberculosis (TB) and Leishmaniasis. The One Health model is an interdisciplinary approach that acknowledges the interrelationships between human health, animal health, and environmental health.

During the workshop, valuable presentations were delivered by VALIDATE members and others, and we are pleased to share these insights with the broader VALIDATE Community with a series of Online Seminars.

Seminar Two took place on Zoom, 23 November 2023 at 14:00 GMT.

We are excited to present two fascinating talks:

1. Solutions against infectious diseases in indigenous population: inter-cultural challenges in One Health with Dr Juan Dib, Universidad del Norte, Colombia
   Juan investigates the intercultural challenges in implementing One Health solutions against infectious diseases in indigenous populations. He highlights the fundamental differences in the worldview of health and disease between indigenous societies, which view health holistically, and Western medicine's reductionist approach. Juan also examines the need for improved research efforts and surveillance programmes that are tailored to remote indigenous communities to better identify disease burdens and promote public health action.

2. Impact and solutions to inequitable health care infrastructure on TB in Madagascar with Dr Niaina Rakotosamimanana, Pasteur Institute of Madagascar. In this talk, Niaina addresses strategies to improve TB care and obtain epidemiological information in remote areas of Madagascar, including the use of new technologies, instructional videos, medication reminders, remote monitoring, and even drones for samples and treatment transportation, all of which aim to enhance patient education, adherence, and symptom monitoring.

About the Speakers

Dr Juan Dib is a Research Professor at the Universidad del Norte, Colombia.

For more than 20 years Juan has been dedicated to the integral study of tropical diseases, parasitology and infectious diseases in rural and remote areas of Colombia with indigenous populations. He has experience teaching PhD students, developing fieldwork with communities and doing surveillance of infectious diseases. Juan also has expertise in determining transmission dynamics of infectious diseases by molecular epidemiological studies and POCT in rural remote areas.

Dr Niaina Rakotosamimanana is the Head of the Mycobacteriology Unit at the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar.

Niaina has been working on TB at the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar since 2010. He is currently leading a TB research program which includes translational and operational research programs that aimed to develop new TB diagnostic tools and perform drug resistance surveillance in collaboration with the National Tuberculosis Control Program of Madagascar.