Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH), a grassroots Ugandan based tourism NGO that rallies all its efforts on the protection of gorillas in the country will celebrate their 20th Anniversary from 29th to 3rd December 2023 at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala.

The guest of honor will be CTPH Patron, Her Royal Highness, Queen Sylvia Nagginda, Nnabagereka of Buganda.

“The advocacy event will provide an opportunity for CTPH to reflect on a 20-year journey where we have seen tremendous growth, as well as advocate to new audiences on the importance of adopting a One Health approach which addresses the health of people, animals and the environment together.

We will have a series of activities including the launch of our 5-year Strategic Plan 2024-2028 and a One Health round table discussion with One Health experts and leaders”.

Among the series of events, CTPH will visit Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, where the Gorilla Health and Community Conservation Centre will be commissioned by Queen Sylvia Nagginda on 2nd

December 2023.

This will be followed by tracking the mountain gorillas on 3rd December still at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Established in 2003 Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, CTPH promotes biodiversity conservation by enabling people, gorillas and other wildlife to coexist.

This is done through improving their health and wellbeing in and around Africa’s protected areas. Her career in conservation began as the first veterinarian for Uganda Wildlife Authority in 1996 where she led a team that investigated the first fatal disease outbreak in the critically endangered mountain gorillas traced to people living around the park with inadequate health care.

For the past 20 years, Dr. Kalema has spearheaded integrated One Health approaches to conservation which address the health of wildlife, health and the environment simultaneously, including through climate change mitigation.

Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka further stated, “What gives me hope in the climate crisis is the increasing acknowledgement that it needs to be addressed urgently. There are innovative methods to mitigate and adapt to this crisis.”

The press conference held on Monday 27th November, at the

Uganda Media Center also featured representatives from the Ministry of

Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities (MTWA), National One Health Platform (NOHP) and CTPH.

Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities was represented by Commissioner George Owesigire on behalf of the Permanent Secretary.

“As a ministry, we laud CTPH and its director Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka for a tremendous job in tourism especially gorilla conservation.

Gorilla tourism alone fetches over 50 Billion per year which is more than a half of the annual tourism sector revenues.

This is possible because of the involvement of the private sector institutions like CTPH”. Said Commissioner Owesigire.