With support from the One Health Central and Eastern Africa (OHCEA), School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences (CHS), Makerere University students from Cameroon’s Universite des Montagnes have started what is believed to be the first One Health students’ club in the country. With barely two months since its start, the club boasts of a number of achievements such as:-
- Election of a multidisciplinary executive committee of 8 members consisting of 50% females
- Conducting sensitization on One Health within the student community
- Registration of more than 60 active members
- Creating a WhatsApp group that is used as a platform for sharing One Health information among members
- Setting up a Facebook page for the club
- Development of a draft strategic plan for the club
- Designing a logo for the club
Additionally, the President of the club Mr. Ewondo ndjeng Élisée has been linked with University of Rwanda’s OH Club (UROHSC) members and was added on the club’s WhatsApp group. This enables him to benefit from the rich information shared by UROHSC members, and also share the information with members of his club.
During a visit to Universite des Montagnes in April 2016, Ms Sara Nannyanzi the Regional Finance and Administration Manager and Mr Timothy Wakabi, Head M&E (OHCEA) together with Ms Lilian Leku, the Senior Finance Officer for UMN engaged the students to understand their visualization of how the club should progress and what they what activities they would wish to implement during year 3 of the OHW. The priority activities identified by the students were: organize seminars / talks on topical issues like Ebola and Zika virus; conduct interdisciplinary debates to enable students appreciate roles played by various disciplines in promoting health; community activities (sensitization and education); training in communication with emphasis on public speaking.
Article by OHCEA Communication Team