Happy One Health Day!

November 3rd was One Health Day – a day to bring attention to the need for a One Health approach to shared health threats at human-animal-environmental interfaces and to celebrate the inter-sectoral progress made to face the world’s most urgent global health challenges.

This month, we released a report detailing the results of our Outcome Mapping sessions in Uganda. The report has critical information about zoonotic disease pathogens and points or locations with the highest spillover risk in Uganda, obstacles to addressing those risks, and how to overcome them.

Meet STOP Spillover’s Côte d’Ivoire Country Team Lead Dr. Danièle Konan

We sat down with Dr. Konan to discuss STOP Spillover’s work in Côte d’Ivoire, the importance of using the One Health approach to prevent zoonotic disease outbreaks, and what makes STOP Spillover unique

“STOP Spillover is truly locally-led—from the heavy focus on stakeholder engagement from the outset to the local expert working groups that are engaged in the identification of intervention sites and the design of risk-reduction interventions to combat the spread of zoonotic diseases.”

Meet Tufts University

Through its unique constellation of schools, including the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University School of Medicine, The Fletcher School, the Feinstein International Center, and the School of Engineering, Tufts University forms the foundation of the consortium’s global strength in infectious disease forecasting, surveillance, risk reduction, prevention and eradication.

“Tufts University is widely known for its cutting edge research, which is about breaking down walls—between fields and between what is and what could be,” said Deborah Kochevar, Professor and Dean Emerita at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and STOP Spillover’s Project Director. “Innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration are the foundations of discovery at Tufts, and the university’s world-class researchers push boundaries and ask questions that will take global knowledge to the next level."

Tufts University is leading the consortium of expert global, regional, and in-country partners who will build on the university’s expertise specifically in the areas of mapping, risk identification, analysis and communication, zoonotic pathogen ecology, modeling and participatory epidemiology, and local wildlife conservation.

Lassa Fever Vaccine Trials Beginning Across West Africa

Exciting Lassa Fever vaccine trials and research are set to begin in Nigeria and Liberia.

The Enable Lassa Research Programme in Abuja, Nigeria is a groundbreaking Lassa study and the largest of its kind thus far. While Nigeria is not directly involved in the development of the vaccines, participants in these trials will contribute essential information to a future vaccine. This research initiative’s goal is to have a safe and widely distributed vaccine by 2030. 

Another vaccine initiative, PREVAIL, is a joint Liberia-US research partnership that has launched a Phase I clinical study to provide information about the safety and efficacy of a Lassa vaccine.

In addition to the vaccine progress for Lassa fever, a new Lassa fever therapy is being researched by La Jolla Institute for Immunology. This therapy focuses on identifying how antibodies can block the infection and works on Lassa’s “weak spots."

This progress in vaccines and therapy to counter Lassa fever are important for several STOP Spillover countries that have prioritized reducing the spillover and spread of Lassa fever, including Sierra Leone and Liberia.