Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka started CTPH in 2003 in response to a scabies outbreak amongst the mountain gorillas, which were critically endangered at the time, of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, where she was working as Uganda’s first wildlife vet. The scabies outbreak led to the devastating death of an infant gorilla and several others required treatment to ensure their survival. Dr. Gladys and her team traced the outbreak to local communities living on the outskirts of the park, where access to health services was very limited and health, hygiene and sanitation were poor. Recognising that gorilla conservation could not be successful without effectively engaging and improving the health and wellbeing of the local communities, Dr. Gladys established CTPH to implement a One Health model to gorilla conservation. The first of its kind in Uganda and with little acknowledgement of such approaches worldwide at the time, Dr Gladys had to overcome many challenges in early days of CTPH. This included major funding challenges as donors tended to want to fund either conservation approaches or health projects – but hers operated at the intersect of both.

Today, however, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic which brought global attention to the interconnectedness of wildlife and human health and the major risks of not addressing them together, One Health approaches have gained recognition and momentum. Whilst this has brought significant attention to Dr. Gladys’s One Health approach, her priority – protecting the world’s endangered mountain gorillas of which there remain only 1063 in the world, remains the same. Dr. Gladys is passionate about ensuring that the world’s mountain gorillas are protected and that the One Health approach, which provides better outcomes for people, wildlife and habitats, continues to be scaled up to benefit more people, landscapes and animals.