Conservation Through Public Health

Description

Conservation Through Public Health, known as CTPH, is a Uganda-based non-profit organisation working on gorilla and wildlife conservation.

It also operates as a US-registered non-profit and focuses on the interdependence of wildlife and human health in and around Africa’s protected areas. It was founded in 2003 by Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Lawrence Zikusoka and Stephen Rubanga. Its stated mission is to promote coexistence between people, gorillas and the environment by improving health and wellbeing for all three.

CTPH runs programs to protect gorillas and other wildlife from disease risk shared with humans and livestock, and to reduce disease in communities living near wildlife. It promotes local access to family planning and uses information and communication technology to support local development and environmental education. It has a special focus on the endangered mountain gorilla, with programs in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park, and cooperative work extending into Congo and Rwanda.

Its main activities include wildlife health monitoring, including disease surveillance of mountain gorillas, improving human health and family planning near gorilla habitats, and information and education projects in remote areas. It uses a One Health approach, treating wildlife, ecosystems, humans and livestock health as interconnected.