People (listed by ICONZ partner country team)

 


UK

Sue Welburn

  • Role: WP 1 & 12 Leader / ICONZ Coordinator
  • Partner Institution: University of Edinburgh
  • Country: UK
  • Email:
  • About Me: Sue is Professor of Molecular Medical and Veterinary Epidemiology at the Centre for Infectious Diseases UEDIN. Sue has more than 20 years experience working on human sleeping sickness and zoonotic trypanosomiasis in domestic wild and animal populations. Research focus: the design and application of molecular diagnostic tools for the study and management of sleeping sickness and animal trypanosomiaisis; assessment of the animal reservoir of disease for human sleeping sickness, cost burden analysis for human and animal disease, policy implications for control options, risk factors for disease emergence, optimization of zoonotic disease control and spatial epidemiology of zoonotic trypanosomiasis. Research encompasses ‘grass-roots’ fieldwork in Africa to laboratory-based dissection of the problem of trypanosomiasis at the gene level, ranging from the management of high-tech laboratory research to the running of applied field projects in developing countries. Sue has projects ongoing in Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia and Tanzania focussing on medical and veterinary sector interventions for disease control (in partnership with the National Institutes of Medical Research, Ministries of Health, Ministries of Agriculture) supported by funding from World Health Organization / DFID / Wellcome Trust / Leverhulme Trust, Cunningham Trust and NTI, Global Health and Security Initiative). Sue has a strong commitment to Capacity Building in HEI and Research Institutions in the Global South and is a Director of the University of Edinburgh International Development Centre and most recently has been appointed Director of the Edinburgh Global Health Academy (www.globalhealthacademy.ed.ac.uk/). With colleagues in the private sector, and Makerere University, Uganda she has established a Public Private Partnership for the control of sleeping sickness in Uganda (www.stampoutsleepingsickness.com). Sue is leads ICONZ WP 12 – Communication and Dissemination.
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Iona Beange

  • Role: ICONZ Communications Officer
  • Partner Institution: University of Edinburgh
  • Country: UK
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Anna Walker-Okello

Kevin Bardosh

  • Role: Research Assistant WP10
  • Partner Institution: University of Edinburgh
  • Country: UK
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Marie Ducrotoy

  • Role: Research Assistant
  • Partner Institution: University of Edinburgh
  • Country: UK
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Jim Scudamore

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Belgium

Pierre Dorny

Alexandra Shaw

  • Role: WP 9 Leader
  • Partner Institution: AVIA-GIS
  • Country: Belgium
  • Email:
  • About Me: Alex Shaw initially trained as an economist and began work on animal health and livestock economics in the mid 1970s. She gained her PhD in 1986 from the University of Reading, UK, on the economics of trypanosomiasis in West Africa. She has over 30 years’ experience of analysing the economics of health programmes in both the medical and veterinary sectors, during which she has worked in over 20 African countries.Her main area of interest has been the tsetse and trypanosomiasis problem in Africa. She has worked on all aspects of this: tsetse control, trypanotolerance and sleeping sickness. She has developed economic and herd models for use in this work as well as for training purposes. Most recently, she has been involved in the development of an innovative methodology for mapping the benefits of tsetse control using figures derived from herd models. She has extensive experience as a trainer, in the fields of project evaluation and appraisal, health economics, livestock development and policy. She has also worked in the areas of rural development, socio-economic surveys, land use issues and widely in francophone countries. In recent years she has advised DFID livestock research programmes on the direction and composition of their research portfolios in Africa, Asia and South America. Her studies of the tsetse and trypanosomiasis problem in livestock and people led to her becoming more involved in assessing the dual burdens imposed on human and animal populations by other zoonotic diseases, such as rabies and tuberculosis, and the economics of controlling them. Under contract to the DFID AHP & WHO, she organised the first international Neglected Zoonoses meeting in September 2005 in Geneva helping to mobilise interest in the subject and writing the report summarising the proceedings. She is a member of Programme Against African Trypanosomiasis’s (PAAT) Programme Advisory Group and has served on WHO’s working groups on the economics of Human African Trypanosomiasis and Rabies.Alex is married with two children. She is fluent in French and German and has used her Spanish on consultancies in South America and as a teacher on postgraduate training courses. She is currently based in Andover, United Kingdom.
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Guy Hendrickx

  • Role: Scientist
  • Partner Institution: AVIA-GIS
  • Country: Belgium
  • Email:
  • About Me: Guy Hendrickx, DVM, Ph.D., was borne in 1960. He graduated as doctor in veterinary medicine in 1985 and has over 20 years of experience in the field of spatial epidemiology, livestock geography and decision support systems. He started is professional carrier with a series of long-term assignments overseas at increasing levels of responsibility first for VVOB in Rwanda and then for FAO in Tanzania, Togo and Burkina Faso where he conducted both research and development activities. His main research activity was the development and implementation of country wide Geographical Information Systems (GIS) applied to integrated vector borne disease control. In 1997 he was laureate of the National Academy of Overseas Sciences (Brussels, Belgium) with a dissertation on this topic . In 1999 he obtained his PhD on the design of a georeferenced decision support methodology towards trypanosomosis management in West Africa. This work included the use of remote sensing to model vector, pathogen and disease, and the use of decision support trees in GIS. Obtained results allowed gaining novel insights on the spatial epidemiology of trypanosomosis and its impact on the integration of livestock and crop-agriculture. As project manager and chief technical advisor he was leading multidisciplinary RTD teams also involved with technology transfer, training and extension work.In 2001, back from Africa, he is managing director of Avia-GIS a consulting company which he founded together with partners. Avia-GIS is specialized in the collection, processing and analysis of spatial information, and the development of space-time information systems with particular reference to animal health and production, agriculture, public health and health-environment. Emphasis is put on vector-borne diseases, zoonoses and emerging diseases.Guy is married to Leen and has three children: Emilie (’91), Matisse (’92) and Alizée (’94).

Ward Bryssinckx

  • Role: Scientist
  • Partner Institution: AVIA-GIS
  • Country: Belgium
  • Email:
  • About Me: Ward graduated as a biomedical scientist at the University of Antwerp in
  • 2008 and came into contact with geographic information systems during two master years which were focused on tropical biomedical sciences.
    As of September 2009, he works at Avia-GIS where he studies on the predictability of cattle abundances in extensive livestock systems using remote sensing data.
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Sarah Gabriel

  • Role: WP 7 Leader
  • Partner Institution: Prins Leopold Instituut Voor Tropische Geneeskunde
  • Country: Belgium
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Koen Mintiens

  • Role: Scientist
  • Partner Institution: AVIA-GIS
  • Country: Belgium
  • Email:
  • About Me: Koen Mintiens is the Head of The Veterinary Public Health Unit at Avia-GIS. He is a Vet with 18 years of experience in Veterinary Epidemiology and Risk Analysis.
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Bjorn Victor

  • Partner Institution: Prins Leopold Instituut Voor Tropische Geneeskunde
  • Country: Belgium
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Severine Thys

  • Partner Institution: Prins Leopold Instituut Voor Tropische Geneeskunde
  • Country: Belgium
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Denmark

Dr Christopher Saarnak

  • Partner Institution: University of Copenhagen
  • Country: Denmark
  • Email:
  • About Me: I am a human geographer with >15 years experience of working with research and capacity building, in a wide array of developing countries. I am the former coordinator of DUCED-SLUSE, an initiative that started the first (and now self-sustaining) interdisciplinary university curriculum on natural research management in countries like Thailand and Malaysia. Main research interests are the application of remote sensing and GIS tools to explain natural resource management related problems in developing countries. Of interest is also the application of web-based systems for dissemination of geo-referenced research projects.
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Maria Vang Johansen

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France

Franck Boué

Anne-Françoise Pétavy

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Germany

Irmgard Moser

Manfred Tanner

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Portugal

Margarida Correia-Neves

  • Role: Scientist
  • Partner Institution: University of Minho
  • Country: Portugal
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Spain

Ignacio Moriyón

  • Role: WP 5 Leader
  • Partner Institution: University of Navarra
  • Country: Spain
  • Email:
  • About Me: Ignacio is Professor of Microbiology at the Medical School of the University of Navarra (Pamplona, Spain). Ignacio obtained his Ph.D. at the Bacteriology and Veterinary Sciences Depts. of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1982 working under L.M. Jones and D.T. Berman supervision. He cooperated with Professor Díaz supervision at the Department of Microbiology & Parasitology of the Medical School of the University of Navarra, where he became Associate Professor and then Professor. Presently, Ignacio is Head of the Department. Ignacio has more than 25 years of experience working on animal and human brucellosis with emphasis on the role of bacterial surface structures & antigens in serological tests and in virulence. His present research is focused on the interaction of surface molecules with innate immunity in connection with the development of new vaccines and tests suitable under the conditions prevailing in developing countries. Ignacio has acted as a supervisor o the IAEA with missions in Latin America, and as WHO and expert in topics related to brucellosis. Ignacio leads the ICONZ WP5 – Improve and develop control and prevention strategies through integrated intervention packages for neglected bacterial zoonoses.
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Sweden

Gunilla Källenius

  • Role: Scientist
  • Partner Institution: Karolinska Institute
  • Country: Sweden
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Stefan Svenson

  • Partner Institution: Karolinska Institute
  • Country: Sweden
  • Email:
  • About Me: Stefan B. Svenson (Dr Med. Sci, PhD) is professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, in Uppsala and is also professor at the Dept. for Clinical… [show more
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Beston Hamasur

  • Partner Institution: Karolinska Institute
  • Country: Sweden
  • Email:
  • About Me: Phd candidate and Senior Scientist
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Switzerland

Jan Hattendorf

Esther Schelling

  • Role: Scientist
  • Partner Institution: Swiss Tropical Institute
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Email:
  • About Me: Esther Schelling has a veterinary thesis on the epidemiology of Newcastle Disease in Switzerland and a PhD in epidemiology at the Swiss Tropical Institute (STI). After a postdoctoral position at STI, where she was also coordinator of a broad interdisciplinary research programme (NCCR North South co-funded by the Swiss Agency of Development and Cooperation on the Swiss National Science Foundation), she was a joint appointment scientist of International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Kenya and STI. She is now a project leader at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH). During applied research in Chad on improving the health of nomadic pastoralists and their livestock, she has gained experiences (and recognition) on assessing simultaneously zoonotic diseases in both humans and livestock; on the use molecular laboratory tools to fill in knowledge gaps that could not be derived with classical epidemiology; on identification of synergies between public health and veterinary services, and on the provision of social services to mobile pastoral populations. Her research interests include the identification and testing of cost-effective control strategies for zoonoses (namely brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, anthrax, and Rift Valley Fever), underreporting of zoonoses in people and animals in Africa and assessing appropriate social service provision to and disease transmission patterns in mobile communities of West Africa and South East Asia. This research mainly done within North-South research partnerships using transdisciplinary approaches and within international research networks such as the ICONZ.
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Marcel Tanner

Jakob Zinsstag

  • Role: WP 3 Leader
  • Partner Institution: Swiss Tropical Institute
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Email:
  • About Me: Jakob Zinsstag graduated with a doctorate in veterinary medicine (Dr. med. vet.) on Salmonella diagnosis at the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Berne in 1986. After his studies he worked in rural practice and as post doctoral fellow on trypanosomiasis research at the Swiss Tropical Institute. From 1990 to end of 1993 he led a livestock helminthosis project for the University of Berne at the International Trypanotolerance Centre in The Gambia. From 1994 to 1998 he directed the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Since 1998 he leads a research group at the Swiss Tropical Institute in Basel on the interface of human and animal health with a focus on health of nomadic people and control of zoonoses in developing countries under the paradigm of “one medicine”. He holds a PhD in Tropical Animal Production from the Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine of Antwerp, Belgium. Since 2004 he is Assistant Professor (PD) in Epidemiology and teaches at the University of Basel . He is a diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Public Health (ECVPH) and member of the scientific advisory board of the Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine of Antwerp, Belgium.Until he came back from Africa, the main areas of research were the epidemiology of intestinal parasites and animal production in the tropics. Upon returning to the STI, and building on the “one medicine” concept developed by Calvin Schwabe, the research group focused on the health care of pastoral nomads and the eradication of zoonoses in developing countries. The scientific accomplishments of the research group include: Validation of the “one medicine – one health” concept by (1) parallel assessment of the health status of animals and humans as well as combined human and animal health vaccination services for pastoral nomads in the Sahel; (2) development of the first mathematical model for animal-human brucellosis transmission, and its application in Mongolia; (3) the first molecular characterisation of tuberculosis in livestock and humans in Chad; (4) demonstration of the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of vaccination campaigns for dogs for the elimination of rabies in African cities.The research group is currently part of the National Centre of Competence in Research North-South (www.nccr-north-south.unibe.ch, financed by the SNSF and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation). Within the NCCR N-S, Jakob Zinsstag is co-leader of health research, to which research institutions throughout Switzerland contribute and which has projects based on four continents. The group’s projects are located in Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia and the group is networking with research institutes and veterinary authorities in these countries and England, France, Germany, Austria Canada and the USA.
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Mali

Dr Abdallah Traoré

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Morocco

Allal Dakkak

  • Scientist
  • Partner Institution: Hassan II Agronomy and Veterinary Institute
  • Country: Morocco
  • Email:
  • About Me: Professional education:
    Veterinary Medicine: Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort (France) : 1968 – 1972
    Doctorate of 3rd Cycle : Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse / Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse : 1979 – 1982
    Doctorate of Sciences : Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse / Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse : 1979 – 1984
    Diplomat of the Eurpean Veterinary Parasitology College (DiplEVPC) : 2003
    Qualifications: Veterinarian; Professor of Veterinary Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases
    Current and past employments: From June 1973 until now: Teaching and researchin the field of Veterinary Parasitology and Veterinary Public Health related to the Parasitic Diseases at the IAV Hassan II
    Main activities:
    - Theoretical and practical teaching of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases at graduate and post-graduate level,
    - Clinical work at the “Centre Hospitalier Vétérinaire” of the IAV Hassan II
    - Diagnostic work of the animal parasitic diseases and of the parasites specimens different parts of the country,
    - Guiding the thesis work for obtaining the Veterinary Medicine Doctorate,
    - Training of the other faculty members of the department,
    - Guiding the thesis work at the post graduate level: 3rd Cycle Doctorate, Doctorate of Science., Ph. D. (candidates from IAV Hassan II and Faculties Science of Moroccan Universities and other Universities),
    - Research in the field of Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Public Health with particular emphasis on the development of oriented and economic projects,
    - Planning and execution of research projects at different levels,
    - Organising Congresses and seminars,
    - Helping the IAV Hassan II and the Animal health and Production Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture in the formulation and execution of profit oriented planning in the field of animal parasitic diseases,
    - Helping the Ministry of Scientific Research in the formulation and evaluation of scientific research projects related to the parasitic diseases
    Scientific publications: 74 scientific papers and contribution in 3 books on Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases.
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Ouafaa fassi fihri

  • Scientist
  • Partner Institution: Hassan II Agronomy and Veterinary Institute
  • Country: Morocco
  • Email: 
  • About Me:  Head of Department of Veterinary Pathology and Public Health, Unit of Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases
    Professor of Higher Education
  • Professional Activities and Teaching – Virology, Viral infectious zoonotic diseases, Non-zoonotic viral infectious diseases, Immunology, Clinical infectious diseases

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Mozambique

Sonia Afonso

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Nigeria

Reuben Adama Ocholi

  • Role: Scientist
  • Partner Institution: National Veterinary Research Institute
  • Country: Nigeria
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Uganda

John David Kabasa

Charles Waiswa

  • Role: WP 8 Leader
  • Partner Institution: Makerere University
  • Country: Uganda
  • Email:
  • About Me: Charles Waiswa is a veterinarian and Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine, Makerere University. Charles has a PhD in tsetse and trypanosomiasis studies, speciaising in zoonotic animal trypanosomiasis. Studies have been in collaboration with Local and International Institutions like: Livestock Research Institute (LIRI), Tororo, Uganda, Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine (CTVM), University of Edinburgh, U.K., Institute for Parasitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine, FU-Berlin, Germany and the International Atomic Energy Agency Laboratories in Siebsidorf, Vienna, Austria plus many others.Charles has been PI on research grants from WHO/TDR, WHO/RCS International Foundation for Science (IFS), DFID for studies that have focused on neglected zoonotic diseases especially sleeping sickness transmission and control in Uganda and cysticercosis.
    Charles is the Coordinator of the Stamp Out Sleeping Sickness (SOS) PPP in Uganda and Chairperson of the cysticercosis working group for eastern and southern Africa (CWGESA), Uganda and leader of WP 8 for ICONZ.
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South Africa

John Hargrove

  • Role: Scientist
  • Partner Institution: SACEMA, Stellenbosch University
  • Country: South Africa
  • Email:
  • About Me: John Hargrove was born in Scotland, schooled in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia and studied zoology at Pembroke College, Oxford (1965-1968). In 1973 he received a PhD from the University of London for his work on the flight physiology of tsetse flies (Glossina spp). The research later rekindled an interest in mathematics and led him to a three-year stint at the Biomathematics Department at UCLA. Thereafter he worked on tsetse for the next 25 years, developing effective, low-cost, ecologically friendly methods of tsetse control. John played an early part in identifying odour attractants, designing new traps, studying fly behaviour and movement and population dynamics.In 1999 John switched careers and began working in Harare as a data analyst on HIV/AIDS research and intervention projects for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and for Johns Hopkins University. In January 2006 he moved to Stellenbosch, South Africa to take up the position as inaugural Director of SACEMA, the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis. John works on issues in the field of HIV research and control, but also continues to work on tsetse and trypanosomiasis.John and his wife Beverley have two children, Daniel and Rebecca.
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Glyn Vale

  • Email:
  • About Me: After studying plant breeding and physiology at Oxford, Glyn joined the Branch of Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Control, Zimbabwe, in 1965, to be based at Rekomitjie and Sengwa field research stations. There he investigated the behaviour, ecology and control of tsetse, with side-line work on horse flies and muscoids. Eventually he became the head of the Branch, responsible for research and control. In 1989 he retired from that job, to work in close association with the Branch for ten years, as Research Co-ordinator for the Regional Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Control Programme for Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.During the last 11 years Glyn has worked for the Natural Resoures Institute, University of Greenwich, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and the Southern African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis, University of Stellenbosch, mostly on projects with tsetse but also with mosquitoes and dung fauna. He is currently Visiting Professor of Insect Behaviour at Greenwich, and Visiting Research Fellow at Stellenbosch.When not masquerading as an entomologist, Glyn tries to grow orchids and to keep his wife and two daughters happy.

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Tanzania

Rudovick Kazwala

Helena Ngowi

  • Role: WP 10 Leader
  • Partner Institution: Sokoine University of Agriculture
  • Country: Tanzania
  • Email:
  • About Me: Helena Ngowi (PhD) is currently a Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Public Health at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania, teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate students. She has more than 10 years experience researching on parasitic zoonoses, particularly Taenia solium cysticercosis/taeniosis. Her research focus has been mainly on the epidemiology and control of the parasite. She particularly used the PRECEDE-PROCEED model, a social science theoretical framework developed by Green and Kreuter (1999) in the planning, implementation and evaluation of health promotion strategies for reducing porcine cysticercosis incidence in Tanzania. The model was found to be very practical. PRECEDE-PROCEED model emphasizes that success in achieving change is enhanced by active participation of members of the target audience in defining their own high-priority problems and goals and in developing and implementing solutions. In addition, the model urges public health planners to recognise the important role of environmental factors (e.g., media, industry, politics, social inequities) as determinants of health and health behaviour, and hence, the need to involve multiple social sectors for effective control of public health problems. Apart from veterinary medicine and veterinary public health skills acquired, Helena also holds several postgraduate qualifications, which has enabled her to carry out a variety of multidisciplinary research activities. Additional qualifications held include Diploma in: Research Methodology (Copenhagen Denmark), Applied Epidemiology (CDC, Atlanta USA), Relationship between Learning, Action and Participation within Health and Environmental Education (Copenhagen Denmark), and Certificates in: Designing and production of health extension materials (Nairobi Kenya), Principles of Geographical Information System and Basic ArcView Application (Morogoro Tanzania), and Capability Based Planning for Emerging Infectious Diseases (Entebe Uganda). Helena is a member of various institutional, national and international organizations. Currently, she is the secretary of the Cysticercosis Working Group for Eastern and Southern Africa (CWGESA); temporary advisor of the WHO’s disease reference group on zoonoses and marginalized infectious diseases (ZOOM-IN); member of Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority’s Veterinary Medicines Registration Technical Committee; and secretary of SUAVET CONSULT, a consultant firm at Sokoine University of Agriculture, which provides consultancies for study and action programmes in life sciences. Helena is the leader of ICONZ WP 10 – Messaging, cultural aspects and traditional knowledge.
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Zambia

Isaac Khozozo Phiri

  • Role: Scientist
  • Partner Institution: University of Zambia
  • Country: Zambia
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Sikasunge Chummy Sikalizyo

  • Role: Scientist
  • Partner Institution: University of Zambia
  • Country: Zambia
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Kenya

John McDermott

Phil TOYE

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