We
• target poor persons/rural areas affected by Trypanosomosis, Onchocerciasis & Zoonoses (TOZ diseases) and reach out to such rural communities for the improvement of their livelihoods, through limiting disease burdens and education,
• undertake research activities in such rural areas which permits us acquire new knowledge on TOZ diseases,
• support services involved in disease control policy improvement,
• offer support to intelligent but needy, desperate and resource-poor background children by laying bridges for poverty alleviation which eventually convert zero children to academic heroes in rural communities,
• empower vulnerable and intelligent children with the zeal to ‘emerge’ by opening doors for them to acquire, MSc and Ph.D degrees,
• undertake extension of useful scientific knowledge/research results, using the one health concept for TOZ diseases, to rural communities,
• make resource-poor youths in rural communities to become thinkers instead of keeping them reflect on other peoples’ innovations.
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STRATEGIC AIMS AND ACTIVITIES
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The global objective of TOZARD is to enable particularly rural communities to reap the benefits of biomedical science research and education. TOZARD seeks to support intelligent young biological science students from weak socio-economic or resource-poor backgrounds, especially in developing third world countries, to acquire high levels of education by laying bridges for them to cross. TOZARD also seeks to enhance the inherent capacity of the rural communities by training people, providing opportunities for hands-on skill development and thus nurturing community leadership in adopting innovative TOZ diseases control strategies. In TOZARD, people are wealth and need to be empowered; knowledge and technology are tools for change and the destiny of communities is in their hands. TOZARD seeks to establish a platform for sustainable community transformation - taking state-of-the art knowledge on the fight against TOZ diseases to rural communities using effective knowledge dissemination systems. At the moment, TOZARD puts emphasis on undertaking research and dissemination of innovative control strategies on Trypanosomosis, Onchocerciasis and Zoonotic diseases. In the future, there could be an expansion to include other diseases if we have new specialized staff in those other diseases. TOZARD runs a fairly well-equipped Research Laboratory where epidemiological surveys and other related research activities on the TOZ diseases are undertaken. Scientific knowledge thus derived is associated with existing useful scientific literature in the given domain in our One Health innovation platform in rural communities to empower them on control strategies for disease burden reduction.
The activities for which TOZARD's financial resources are exclusively used are summarized in our four main activities listed below:
1. Reach-out programs (taking available scientific knowledge) into targeted communities for improving their health and livelihoods. 1000 Euros would be sufficient to run one reach-out program in remote villages.
2. Academic support of intelligent resource-poor background children in primary and secondary schools. 200 Euros would create sufficient Impact for one pupil or student per year.
3. Hands-on scientific research capacity building in the domain of zoonosis, Parasite-Host-Vector-Environment/ecosystems interactions for final year BSc and MSc research projects of resource-poor background students. 1000 Euro would create sufficient impact for the realization of one student project.
4. Scientific research in the domain of zoonoses, parasite-host-vector-environment/ecosystems interactions in view of implicating the related disciplines and social sciences in enhancing the application of the One Health concept in TOZ diseases control. Any amount from 2000 Euros and above would create sufficient impact here for one year.
Real life situations, images that motivated the creation of TOZARD
Field action images in remote villages with TOZARD collaborators
TOZARD TOZARD staff and collaborators (middle) undertaking investigations on Trypanosomosis in tsetse and Tabanids in the remote neighborhood of Gamba -north region (left and middle) and Mboula - Meiganga in Mberé Division, Adamawa (right) while carrying biconical traps for pitching in tsetse foci. The rest of the journey is undertaken on foot and occasionally on motorcycles. The samples collected are taken to TOZARD research laboratory and the University of Bremen for molecular identification of trypanosomes circulating in the vectors, cattle and man in Cameroon.
Heading TOZARD staff and collaborators (left) from universities of Bremen, Germany and Tchad in a joint mission crossing the Do-Deo River to undertake investigations on Trypanosomosis and Zoonoses in inaccessible Do-Deo village, Dargoum etc, Adamawa Cameroon. The remoteness of this rural area necessitated the hiring of motor bikes for most of the journey and the rest was by trekking. Note: Security from armed forces (in both pictures) provided by the Cameroon Government.
Islamic primary school in Do-Deo: Teacher explains the one health concept introduced by TOZARD to the pupil and why TOZARD researchers are in their village. The pupils are anxiously looking at TOZARD field staff standing in front of them.
Field encounter during investigations on zoonoses in man and animals. In the picture on the right, the arrow directs to a swollen knee of the animal due to Brucellosis: Bovine Brucellosis in the northern regions is an important zoonosis: In our project site this animal was slaughtered and sold for consumption.
Left: Pitching bi conical traps to catch tsetse flies in the jungle at the outskirts of DoDeo in Adamawa region Cameroon.
Right: Prof Kelm in a night video projection useful scientific information for the improvement of livelihoods of the people of DoDeo.
