It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the Consortium for Neglected Tropical Diseases and One Health (NeTroDisOH) at the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana. The consortium (formerly NeTroDis Research Group) was founded in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was born out of a strong passion to see an Africa and a world free from the misery of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Neglected tropical diseases are a group of 20, mostly old, severely debilitating but often forgotten diseases that still affect over a billion people worldwide. They place a tremendous socioeconomic burden on individuals, families and communities who are already marginalized and disadvantaged and considered the poorest of the poor. Our experience at NeTroDisOH has shown that effectively combating these diseases requires a holistic approach in our research, training and advocacy. We draw inspiration for this approach from the current WHO One Health companion document on NTDs. Our unique approach is based on the One Health strategy, which recognizes the connection between people, animals and the environment, as a “healthy person” is only possible when animals and the environment are healthy. Our main goals at NeTroDisOH are to promote high-quality research, train the next generation of scientists, transform our data into insights and innovations, and participate in advocacy and community engagement in the field of NTDs and One Health. We actively pursue this by establishing national and international research and exchange partnerships and collaborations, training staff and students in grantmaking, organizing regular scientific dissemination and stakeholder engagement sessions, and developing new courses and workshops that addresses competencies in areas where there is insufficient capacity. All units in the consortium are united by a single vision and a strong sense of adherence to our core values: Passion! Community! Integrity! Empowerment! That's why we continually improve our quality management systems and adhere to biosafety protocols and international ethical standards as enshrined in the Declaration of Helsinki. We work with leading scientists from partner institutions at home and abroad. For example, we work with scientists from the University of Greenwich (UK), Imperial College London (UK), the University of Oxford (UK), the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), the University of Antwerp (Belgium) and the University of California San Diego Campus (USA). If you care about NTDs and One Health and are looking for a partner who is in contact with endemic communities and has strong expertise in epidemiology, parasitology, entomology, immunology, bacteriology and the use of microscopy and molecular biology techniques, we invite you to consider partnering us on this journey of discovery and impact.

Continue Reading