TRYPANOSOMOSIS ONCHOCERCIASIS ZOONOSES ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT (TOZARD)
TRYPANOSOMOSIS ONCHOCERCIASIS ZOONOSIS ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT (TOZARD) is an apolitical, gender sensitive, purpose-driven, non-religious, non-governmental and non-profit making organization based in Bambili - about ten kilometers from Bamenda in Cameroon. Our passion for using available science knowledge to empower and help people suffering from and/or exposed to the risk of the targeted diseases: Trypanosomosis, Onchocerciasis and Zoonoses (TOZ), and who live mainly in rural areas, remains our key strength that we exploit. TOZARD has a cream of well-trained, experienced and highly motivated scientists with a passion for controlling TOZ diseases and who seek to build an interdisciplinary research platform using the One Health Concept to foster international partnerships for collaborative and outward-facing research programmes. To realize our goals, we operate a biological science research laboratory which is used to generate innovative solutions which when co-opted with existing knowledge on these diseases, is disseminated during our reach-out programs in the targeted communities. We also have an annex centre of our research laboratory in Ngaoundere, Cameroon. Scientific knowledge generated at TOZARD is not based on the opinions, feelings, or intuition of the scientist, but on the accumulation of empirical evidence.
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Rationale of TOZARD
There are many villages in Cameroon and many other African countries that have never seen a vehicle drive into for deliveries or transporting people. They are remote and harbor the vectors of many diseases including Zoonoses. Humans and many animal species share the same bed rooms and food dishes. Fatal accidents frequently occur following conflict in the occupation of space between man and some of the dangerous animal species. Movement of goods and people is then done on foot involving days of trekking long distances and crossing many rivers which are yet to have a safe bridge since independence. Illiteracy is high, portable water is still a luxury, electricity and communication gadgets are absent. In the mounting poor hygienic conditions and poor environmental health, the vectors of disease abound and the burden of parasitic infections is very high. Sick people die before they reach the nearest rudimentary health care unit. In such villages nutrition is sub-optimal and life expectancy is usually less than fifty years.
Government staff sent to work in schools, health care units and other institutions in such communities, never stay to work and when they do stay, it will be for very short periods. One TOZARD member visited a school in a village near the Nigerian border and found that the lone teacher, in the class one to four school, had closed down the school for the year in the second week of April and left for his far off city in another region.
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Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of TOZARD
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The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of TOZARD is made up of scientifically renowned professors who like the ordinary members, have a passion for empowering the rural communities on disease burden reduction strategies. SAB members are the three most elderly and most scientifically renowned members of the association. Their role is that of providing the association with technical advice. They also serve as reviewers for research protocols to be undertaken in TOZARD. PD. Dr Alfons Renz (Tel +49 707 170 100) of the Department of Comparative Zoology, Institute of Evolution and Ecology, University of Tübingen, 72076, Germany, was the first member of SAB to be endorsed by TOZARD executive board on the 23/08/2016. Prof. Kelm Soerge, Former Dean of the Faculty of Biology and Biohemistry in the University of Bremen, Germany (Tel +49 421 218 63222) was elected on 10/08/2023 as the second member of SAB. As TOZARD grows, the other members of SAB will be identified.
Research Scientists at TOZARD Research Laboratory
ACHUKWI MBUNKAH DANIEL: Emeritus Director of Research / Prof. Achukwi MD is a distinguished veterinarian with at least three decades of impactful research in vector-borne diseases in Cameroon. He has been country Principal investigator in three German-DFG projects and has worn a good number of other international and national competitive research grants for trypanosomosis, onchocerciasis, tick-borne and zoonotic diseases. A fellow of the Cameroon Academy of Sciences, he held senior positions including that of Scientific Director of the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD) where he managed the scientific activities and career of 250 researchers and 150 senior technicians in 22 stations in the five agro-ecological zones of Cameroon. His research interests include molecular epidemiology and host resistance of protozoan parasites in livestock, atypical human trypanosomosis, Zoonosis, onchocerciasis in humans and livestock. Recently he was part of the supervisory team for a defended Ph.D thesis on Dengue virus infections in mosquitoes and pyretic humans at the ACENTDFB in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria. He is a visiting Professor at the Universities of Ngaoundere and Buea (both functions take up 30% of his time) where he supervised many masters and Ph.D thesis during the last two decades. He presently heads the TOZARD Research laboratory, a function which takes up 30% of his time. He brings extensive experience in disease surveillance, interdisciplinarity, multi-sector ingenuities, distinguished diagnostic capacities for vector borne diseases and expertise in the OneHealth approach for the control of mosquitoe –borne diseases.
​Dr. Peter Y. Mahbou: Dr. Mahbou is a microbiologist and biotechnologist at the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD) Bambui, Cameroon where his research spans from food biotechnology to the molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases, including dengue fever, and chikungunya, giving him a broad perspective on disease transmission between humans, animals and crops. He has been an awardee of a world bank scholarship from whence he obtained his PhD in Biotechnology, with specialty in virology through the African Centre of Excellence for neglected Tropical Diseases and Forensic Biotechnology (ACENTDFB), Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria and the West African Network of Infectious Diseases ACEs (WANIDA), based in Accra, Ghana. His Thesis research was focused on the molecular epidemiology of dengue virus in humans and Aedes mosquitoes. Dr. Mahbou is also a part-time lecturer of biochemistry, microbiology and molecular biology related courses at the University of Bamenda, Cameroon. He has worked in internationally funded projects on onchocerciasis such as MACROFIL, affiliated to the University of Tubingen-Germany. His experience on Aedes mosquitoes and arboviruses makes him apt to be part of the team for the control of Climate-Driven Mosquito-Borne Diseases. He is a founding member of TOZARD.
ANTONIO NKONDJIO Christophe: Dr. Antonio is a senior researcher working at OCEAC, holds a PhD and HDR in parasitology and medical entomology from the University of Yaoundé 1 Cameroon and Montpellier University France. His main research interest focuses on malaria vectors, but also has a lot of expertise working with vectors of arboviruses (Dengue, chikungunya and Yellow fever), Human African Trypanosomiasis and onchocerciasis. He is also experienced in vector bionomics, vector control, insecticide resistance, population genetic structure and molecular biology. He believes a better understanding of vector population evolution could be critical for the successful elimination of vector-borne diseases. He heads a research team consisting 20 scientists and has supervised over 40 masters and PhD students particularly in statistics, epidemiology and medical entomology. He has a strong existing collaboration with Ministries of Health in central Africa, NMCP coordinators, international research institutions such as the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, IRD France and IHU Marseille France. Presently, he is the president of the Pan African Mosquito Control Association (PAMCA) Cameroon Branch and has been a board member for PAMCA for over 11 years. He is equally a board member of the Applied Malaria Modeling Network (AMMnet) and is highly involved in ensuring best practices in research in his domain of expertise in Africa and in TOZARD especially.
Dr. Herbert Afegenwi M. is a microbiologist by training, with a strong research interest in Medical Virology. He obtained his PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, in 2018 through a Swiss government excellence scholarship. He also has postdoctoral experience from Switzerland and Germany. Currently, he is serving as a senior lecturer of virology and other infectious diseases at the University of Bamenda, Cameroon. He has supervised the dissertations of several master students and published at least a dozen research articles in several peer-reviewed journals. He also doubles as a research scientist in the TOZARD Research Laboratory, Bambili, Cameroon, where he conducts research on viral zoonotic diseases in the context of one-health.
Dr Ekoti Ajonina Irene is a microbiologist/molecular parasitologist with a strong background in research, teaching and public health. Originally having a first degree in laboratory technology, she now holds a Ph.D degree in Biology from the University of Munster, Germany supported that was supported by an excellence award scholarship from DAAD and VLIR. Currently, her research interests focuses on coinfections of parasitic vector-borne diseases as well as seeking sustainable health solutions across Africa using the OneHealth approach valorized by TOZARD Research Laboratory. She has extensive hands-on expertise in molecular Biology, immunology and microbiology, which form the corner stone of her involvement in research in neglected Tropical diseases including Onchocerca volvulus, soil transmitted helminths, the management of public Health initiatives and community mobilization.
Mrs Wachong Henrietta Fukamchwi is a medical laboratory Scientist and holder of a Masters degree in Public health from the university of Minnesota Minneapolis U.S.A. She works in the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), Mankon station in Cameroon. She has worked as a senior technician for at least ten years in internationally funded Onchcerciasis research projects, which targeted the development of new/safer drugs and vaccines for onchocerciasis control. For at least five years her laboratory skills were exploited in training students of the School of veterinary medicine in Ngaoundere university. She is the head of the Histopathogy and Veterinary research laboratory at IRAD Mankon. As a founding member of TOZARD, her skills in public Health found great value during the taking of research results (reach-out programmes) to communities that need those results for the improvement of their livelihoods.
