Urgent Action to curb COVID to people and gorillas

This report is an update on Conservation Through Public Health’s (CTPH) project (#52950) on GlobalGiving, “Urgent Action to Curb COVID to People and Gorillas.” The previous report was provided in July 2024. By this time, the project had 197 donations amounting to $30,237.25, which is 86% of the fundraising goal. To date, the project has 207 donations amounting to $30,329.86 of its $ 35,000 fundraising goal.                                                                                                                                                     

Background

In 2020, the Ministry of Health introduced a Community Engagement Strategy for creating Village COVID-19 Taskforces (VCTFs) when the country was in Phase IV of the pandemic, with widespread community transmission and a lack of hospital beds. The strategy sought to engage communities, beginning with individuals at the household level, to take action in the fight against the pandemic. CTPH collaborated with Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), health and conservation partners, local leaders, schools, and religious institutions to set up 59 Village COVID-19 Taskforces (VCTFs) around Bwindi. The main aim of this was to support community surveillance, contact tracing, isolation, shielding of vulnerable individuals, management of home-based care cases, and raising awareness about prevention and vaccination through peer communication. The VCTFs have continued to be instrumental in sensitizing the community about emerging and reemerging diseases in their respective villages. 

ACTIVITIES

 VHCT refresher training

During this quarter, CTPH held a refresher training session for a total of 429 Village Health and Conservation Teams (VHCTs), where 51% of the participants were women. The training aimed to reinforce efforts to ensure that at least 50% of the households surrounding Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP) achieve the status of Model Households. These households demonstrate positive behaviors such as sustainable agriculture, alternative livelihoods, reproductive health and family planning, proper sanitation and hygiene, and a commitment to wildlife conservation. This comprehensive training included several key components including Data Validation and Formative Evaluation Feedback helping to refine and improve strategies, discussions on the progress of the model household approach, with a focus on best practices and success stories, strategies to address lagging indicators, with emphasis on overcoming key challenges and focusing on areas that required improvement, Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) materials specifically developed for the VHCTs were tested and revised to ensure their effectiveness in conveying key messages, progress of all Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) groups was reviewed, highlighting successes and any areas for improvement, Challenges faced by VHCTs during household outreaches and data collection were identified and addressed, ensuring that the teams are better equipped to manage field challenges. 

CTPH equipped 194 VHCTs with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including rain suits and waterproof bags, to aid their household outreach activities. This preparation ensures they are better equipped to work in challenging weather and terrain conditions. The training reinforced the VHCTs' roles in promoting public health, conservation, and sustainable livelihoods while addressing specific challenges they encounter.

VHCTs are fundamental members of VCTFs and play a crucial role in identifying cases within their villages.

Gorilla Health Monitoring

Our gorilla health monitoring team continued their routine gorilla health monitoring activity in collaboration with Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) rangers and Gorilla Guardians of Bwindi and Mgahinga Conservation Area (BMCA).

In this quarter, 616 gorilla fecal samples were collected from all 27 habituated groups using non-invasive methods where fecal samples are collected from Gorilla night nests. All the samples were analyzed at the Gorilla Health and Community Conservation Centre’s (GHCCC) field laboratory in Bwindi to check for intestinal helminth parasites and other pathogens. This enables us to create an early warning system for early detection, reporting of, and response to threats that might be a risk to the endangered mountain gorillas through local partnerships. Some of these samples are preserved for further tests for other respiratory illnesses including SARS-CoV-2 that causes coronavirus disease.

Gorilla births 

We are excited to announce the births of new gorilla babies this quarter. 

In July 2024, adult female Mukidebe from the Kahungye gorilla family gave birth, bringing the group's population to 16 members. They continue to inhabit the forested hills of the Rushaga sector in eastern Bwindi, under the leadership of Silverback Kasigazi. 

In August 2024, another baby mountain gorilla was born to adult female Munini in the Nshongi gorilla family, located in the southern part of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. This new addition increases the total number of individuals in this family to 14, led by Silverback Bweza. This is Munini's fourth baby; she previously gave birth to Raha in 2012, who is now a handsome blackback, as well as Bayenza and Kijumwa in 2017 and 2021, respectively.

In October 2024, two more baby gorillas were born: one to adult female Kabagyenyi from the Nshongi Mountain Gorilla family and another to adult female Migogo of the Mucunguzi Gorilla family. Both mothers and their babies, along with the family leaders, Silverbacks Bweza and Mucunguzi, are in good health.

These births highlight the transformative conservation efforts we are undertaking, helping this once critically endangered species move further from the brink of extinction.

We congratulate the parents of the new babies and thank you for your continued support to Conservation Through Public Health.

Links:

• Visit our website to learn more about our work

This report is an update on Conservation Through Public Health’s (CTPH) project (#52950) on GlobalGiving called “Urgent Action to Curb COVID to People and Gorillas”. The previous report was provided in March 2024. At that time, the project had received $30,073.53 of the $35000 funding goal.To date, the project has 197 donations amounting to $30,237.25 which is 86% of the fundraising goal.                                                                                                                                                                                 

Background

In 2020, the Ministry of Health introduced a Community Engagement Strategy of creating Village COVID-19 Taskforces (VCTFs) when the country was in Phase IV of the pandemic with widespread community transmission and lack of hospital beds. The strategy sought to engage communities, beginning with individuals at the household level, to take action in the fight against the pandemic. CTPH collaborated with Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), health organizations, local leaders, schools, and religious institutions to set up 59 Village COVID-19 Taskforces (VCTFs) around Bwindi. The main aim of this was to support community surveillance, contact tracing, isolation, shielding of vulnerable individuals, management of home-based care cases, and raise awareness about prevention and vaccination through peer communication. 

WHAT WE HAVE DONE

Gorilla Health Monitoring

Our team continued the routine monitoring of all the now 28 habituated gorilla groups of Bwindi and Mgahinga Conservation Area (BMCA) through the non-invasive collection of gorilla fecal samples for analysis at the Gorilla Health and Community Conservation Centre Field Laboratory to detect diseases that gorillas may have contracted from neighboring humans or animals. This quarter, our team managed to collect and preserve a total of 619 gorilla fecal samples.

Ranger Training

The conservation efforts of rangers are pivotal in safeguarding wildlife, encompassing tasks such as wildlife monitoring, anti-poaching measures, and community engagement. In addition, they play a significant role in mitigating human-wildlife conflicts and guiding wildlife excursions for tourists, including treks to the endangered mountain gorillas and other great apes. To effectively carry out their responsibilities, rangers require comprehensive knowledge of best tourism practices and the existing threats to the wildlife under their protection.

In this quarter, our team conducted a five-day refresher training program for 361 UWA rangers across all sectors of BMCA. The training curriculum addressed various subjects, including prevalent zoonotic infections around BMCA, associated risk factors, and clinical signs and symptoms of these zoonotic infections in gorillas and humans. This training helps to predict, detect and pave a way for preventive measures and reporting purposes to aid in timely intervention.

The rangers also received instruction on adhering to the IUCN great ape viewing guidelines and the methods for enforcement of these guidelines during visits to the endangered mountain gorilla and other great apes.

Another topic was gorilla behavior and identification which is also essential for reporting clinical signs in mountain gorillas.

Village Health and Community Conservation Team (VHCTs) refresher training

In collaboration with the UWA Community Conservation department and the Ministry of Health (MOH) health workers, our team conducted a refresher training for 429 VHCTs in 8 frontline Parishes of Mukono, Bujengwe, Mpungu, Buremba, Ngara, Muramba around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, home to half of the remaining endangered mountain gorillas. With this training, CTPH intends to transform households around the gorilla habitat into One Health model homes that exhibit positive behaviors including investing in proper sanitation and hygiene, adopting alternative livelihoods, and prioritizing wildlife conservation.

Village COVID-19 Taskforce review meetings

Our team, together with Uganda Wildlife Authority and Bwindi Community Hospital is currently conducting follow-up visits to all the 59 Village COVID-19 Taskforces (VCTFs) which will help us get insights into how they coped during the pandemic and how their work helped manage the pandemic. The information gathered will also help us check on how VCTFs are doing and how they can continue to be engaged in the post-COVID-19 era. We will keep you updated on the findings in the next Quarter report.

Gorilla births

We are thrilled to share the birth of three baby gorillas this quarter! The first baby was born to Adult Female Furaha from the Nkuringo Family in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. This brought the total number of individuals in the group to 15. The second baby was born to Adult Female Nyampazi from Mubare Gorilla Group. This birth led to the growth of the Mubare gorilla family from 8 to 9 members. The newest birth was spotted in the Kahungye gorilla family this week of 15^th July 2024 where adult female Mukidebe was seen with a two-week-old baby. This has increased the family number from 15 to 16 members. When our team visited the group this week, the baby and mother looked healthy.

We congratulate the parents of these new babies, and we thank all of you our supporters for your continued support to Conservation Through Public Health.

Links:

• Visit our website for more information