By Musa Ubandawaki, Sokoto

SOKOTO — Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), has called for urgent adoption of research-driven policies, innovation and stronger inter-sectoral collaboration to address Africa’s growing health and environmental challenges.

The university said emerging infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, climate change, environmental degradation, food and water insecurity, and biodiversity loss were interconnected threats requiring an integrated approach to human, animal and environmental health.

The Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Bashiru Garba, made the call on Thursday while declaring open the CAMRET–OHI Joint International Conference at the New Auditorium of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto.

The conference was organised by the university’s Centre for Advanced Medical Research and Training (CAMRET) in collaboration with its One Health Institute (OHI), with the theme: “Harnessing Research, Innovation and Partnership for One Health Solutions to Emerging Health and Environmental Challenges in Africa.”

Garba said Africa could no longer afford to treat health, environmental and agricultural crises as separate challenges, stressing the need for solutions that were scientifically sound, locally relevant, affordable and sustainable.

“For Africa, therefore, One Health provides an important framework for developing solutions that are scientifically sound, locally relevant, affordable and sustainable,” he said.

The Vice Chancellor said universities had a responsibility beyond generating academic knowledge, stressing that research findings must be translated into policies, technologies and practical interventions capable of addressing challenges confronting communities.

He said UDUS had continued to strengthen its research capacity through CAMRET, citing its work on vaccine candidates for Lassa fever and COVID-19, the establishment of a COVID-19 screening centre during the 2020 pandemic and postgraduate programmes in Cancer Biology.

According to him, CAMRET has also secured competitive research grants worth millions of naira, enabling researchers to undertake studies with implications for public health and national development.

Garba further disclosed that the university’s One Health Institute had introduced a Master of One Health programme, which he described as the first dedicated professional programme of its kind in Africa.

He said the programme had completed its first cohort, while the institute had also established the African Journal of One Health to provide a platform for research and scholarly exchange in the field.

The Vice Chancellor urged researchers, policymakers and development partners attending the conference to move beyond academic discussions and build partnerships capable of translating scientific discoveries into interventions that benefit communities.

He particularly challenged participants to examine how research generated in laboratories and classrooms could be transferred effectively to communities and used to inform public policy.

In a keynote presentation, a scholar from Gazipur Agricultural University, Bangladesh, said developing countries could achieve significant breakthroughs by combining indigenous knowledge with biotechnology and digital technologies.

The scholar cited Bangladesh’s use of farmer-conserved rice varieties alongside modern breeding techniques to develop crops capable of surviving flooding and salinity, describing the approach as an example of how local knowledge and modern science could complement each other.

The keynote also highlighted digital disease surveillance initiatives in Malawi and Rwanda, stressing the role of technology in strengthening early detection and response to emerging health threats.

The speaker urged researchers and governments to place communities at the centre of research and development, arguing that solutions were more likely to succeed when beneficiaries participated in identifying problems and designing interventions.

Also speaking, Prof. Musa Kana, Professor of Perinatal and Paediatric Epidemiology at Kaduna State University, identified inadequate funding and fragmented governance as major barriers to effective implementation of One Health initiatives across Africa.

Kana also identified professional rivalry among medical doctors, veterinarians and environmental scientists as an impediment to the coordinated response required to tackle complex health threats.

He called for dedicated and sustainable One Health budget lines at federal and state levels, as well as legislation to define and institutionalise One Health responsibilities across relevant sectors.

He further advocated shared digital platforms for real-time monitoring of zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance, stressing that effective surveillance was critical to preventing outbreaks from escalating into wider public health emergencies.

The Director of the One Health Institute, Prof. Bello Arkilla Magaji, and Director of CAMRET, Dr Ibrahim Malami, said UDUS was expanding its One Health capacity-building initiatives to produce professionals capable of responding to complex health, environmental and agricultural challenges.

They disclosed that the institute, established in June 2024, had graduated its first Master of Science cohort of 40 students, while a second cohort of 46 students was currently in its second semester.

They added that another cohort was expected to commence in January 2027, with students drawn from medicine, veterinary medicine, agriculture, biological sciences and public health.

The directors also announced plans to establish a Nigeria One Health Universities Network (NOHUN) to replicate the UDUS model across universities in the country and strengthen collaboration among institutions working in the field.

They said the university was also proposing a training-of-trainers programme for deans and directors of faculties and departments connected to One Health.

However, they identified sustainable funding, retention of qualified faculty and harmonisation of curricula as major challenges to the expansion of One Health education and research.

The Chief Medical Director of UDUTH also delivered remarks at the conference, during which awards were presented to distinguished participants and guests.

The hybrid international conference, which ends on Friday, attracted researchers, academics, health professionals, policymakers and other stakeholders from Nigeria, other African countries and beyond, with participants attending both physically and virtually.