Urgent Action to curb COVID to people and gorillas

This report provides an update on Conservation Through Public Health's (CTPH) project (#52950) on GlobalGiving, titled “Urgent Action to Curb COVID Among People and Gorillas.” The last report was published in March 2025. At that time, the project had received 216 donations totalling $30,602.02 of the $35,000 goal. To date, the campaign has registered 223 donations amounting to $30,699.76  of our $35000 fundraising goal.

Campaign 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 a lack of hospital beds. The strategy sought to engage communities, beginning with individuals at the household level, to act 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 Impenetrable National Park. 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.

July Updates

Gorilla Health Monitoring

Our team continued the routine gorilla health monitoring program in collaboration with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) rangers across Bwindi and Mgahinga Conservation Area (BMCA). During this reporting period, the team successfully collected 800 gorilla fecal samples from all 28 habituated gorilla groups BMCA. These samples were analysed at our field laboratory, the Gorilla Health and Community Conservation Centre (GHCCC) in Bwindi, where intestinal helminth parasites such as Ascaris, Trichuris, and Hookworm species were detected, reinforcing an early warning system to safeguard gorillas from diseases. Some samples have been preserved for additional testing for other respiratory illnesses, including SARS-CoV-2, which is responsible for coronavirus disease.

Deworming Activities

Following the results of the comparative disease surveillance activity we conducted in the previous quarter, a deworming campaign was conducted to address the high parasitic burdens that were found in livestock and human populations within the 4 villages; Rushaga, Nyabaremura, Murore, and Kahurire that were sampled and tested in mid-March. 2000 people and 265 cows were dewormed with additional funding from National Geographic Society. 

Gorilla Census

Our field teams have been able to actively participate in the mountain gorilla census that is being conducted in Bwindi Sarambwe and has been recently concluded towards the end of the month of June. This census will help us to understand the population dynamics, levels of human disturbance as well as the status of other large mammals within the Bwindi-Sarambwe ecosystem. We hope that the results from this census will help us assess the success of all conservation efforts from both government and NGOs aimed at protecting mountain gorillas and its habitats.

Gorilla Births

We are excited to announce the birth of three baby mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park this quarter!

One infant was born to Kwitonda in the Nkuringo family, bringing their group total to 16 family members. Another baby was born to adult female, Bizulu in the Busingye family, increasing their group size to 15. 

The third baby was born in the Habinyanja Gorilla Group. Towards the end of June 2025, Rukundo, an adult female gorilla from the Habinyanja family, welcomed a lively baby, increasing the total number of family members to 7.

Join us in congratulating these families on their new bundles of joy! Thank you very much for your continued support.