Knowledge That You Deserve
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LATEST BLOG ARTICLES
Is there rationale for WHO shifting investment from infectious to NCDs?
This blog entry will try and elucidate the shift in investment from infectious to non-communicable diseases by the World Health Organisation (WHO) drawing successes from the Millennium Development Goals 6: “To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases”. Initially this blog entry will provide an overview of the management strategies and progress that has been made in addressing infectious diseases (using the “big three diseases” of the MDG 6 as examples). It will then highlight the financial investment from the different Global Health Actors towards these ‘big 3 diseases’ as compared to the other diseases and in conclusion determine if the WHO shift in investment is justifiable or not.
MRSA in humans and animals in Kenya (an overview)
There is evidence that MRSA infection increases the risk of mortality, morbidity, medical care costs and loss of productivity. The increased medical care costs accrued directly as expenses caused by extension of hospital stay, additional diagnostic or therapeutic procedures, and additional antibiotic use while loss of productivity is due to absence from work during hospitalization. At the same time, published data concerning the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of MRSA in sub-Saharan Africa are extremely limited, and few studies on it have been conducted in Kenya [2] [3]. Many studies on MRSA in Kenya are mainly cross-sectional with a focus to determine the prevalence, identifying the antibiotic resistance but they have not focused on the zoonotic significance of MRSA. There is need to understand on how the resistance to MRSA is changing over time so as to be able to clearly visualize the mechanism and transfer of resistance genes in the population [3].
Ebola a wake up call for Ecohealth Alliance
Peter Daszak, President Ecohealth Alliance, in this short video reiterates on how Ebola was a wake up call for them and that their research at the Ecohealth alliance has shown that emergence of disease is a result of anthropogenic actions of man to the environment.
Oral cysticercosis: A contribution of dentists & clinicians to One Health?
Cysticercosis is prevalent in several parts of the world. It is endemic and one of the leading causes of acquired epilepsy[10] in developing countries, mainly in parts of Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. This is especially in those areas with uncontrolled free range pig production, poor sanitation and where humans and animals live in close contact[1]. Its incidence is also increasing in developed countries as a result of migration of infected persons and frequent travel to and from endemic areas[27].
In man, cysticercosis frequently involves many parts of the body including the brain (causing fatal neurocysticercosis), subcutaneous tissues, heart, liver, lungs, peritoneum, skeletal muscles and the eye. Although oral involvement by cysticercosis is common in swine, this location is a very rare occurrence in humans[17, 27, 1] where it presents as a component of disseminated cysticercosis and often a diagnostic challenge to clinicians [14].
Can we learn more about human cancer from dogs?
The study of cancer through comparative oncology (study of cancers in both humans and animals), in recent times, has provided invaluable insights on how the pet-dog is not only man’s companion, but also plays an integral role in improving human health and well-being. More importantly, reiterating the added value of One Health (which is a collaborative and multidisciplinary approach to solving societal challenges) by acting or having the potential to act as sentinels (early warning systems) and models for studying, early diagnosis and treatment of human cancer.
ABCs for Disease Control and Prevention
Vaccinate your livestock, your pets and your self against common vaccine-preventable diseases e.g. rabies. Picture this: you did not vaccinate your dog, it gets rabid, it goes ahead to bite your neighbour and a kid in the neighbourhood. The full course of PEP against rabies for your 2 neighbours will cost close to Kshs 30,000. Not forgetting the danger of losing your dog too! You could have prevented all these costs and losing your dog if you had just spent between Kshs 100-2000 in vaccinating your dog and protecting it for a whole year!
AREAS OF INTEREST
LETS COLLABORATE
Visit our Transdisciplinary Consultants website to learn more about collaborative One Health research opportunities in Animal Welfare, One Health, Veterinary Medicine, community engagement and science communication. Focussed to provide proof of concept of the added value of One Health and One Welfare, in that better health for animals translates to a sustainable better human and environmental health.
ONE HEALTH CONSULTANCY
We offer One Health consultancy service through the Transdisciplinary Consultants on One Health surveillance, One Health evaluation antimicrobial resistance, zoonotic diseases, infectious diseases, data analysis, public science communication, comparative oncology and data collection tools development. We also offer free mentorship on One Health to any individual working on any One Health related project or work.
WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA DESIGN & MANAGEMENT
We have a track record of designing and managing organisational and individual websites both in unilingual and multilingual. Our portfolio features some of the websites our team has developed. They are modern, stylish, elegant and mobile friendly. We also offer a one-month post-service consultation and free added services (such as free training to bring your team up to speed).
MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
Comparative cancer research: Our work seeks to explore how animals can be sentinels and models for human cancer. Our team is participating in the Global Initiative of Veterinary Cancer Surveillance.
Field data collection: ready to collect data for you utilizing high tech data collection tools such as ODK, KoBoToolbox, EpiCollect
Data analysis: experienced in quantitative and qualitative data analysis utilizing modern cutting edge tools such as R, SPSS, NVivo among others
Resources
INTERDISCIPLINARY RESOURCES
One Health Evaluation
Human & animal cancers
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