Rwanda’s tourism sector is set to benefit from the Mountain Gorilla One Health Program that has been introduced in the University of California-Davis, this month.

According to a statement from the University, the $750,000 (Rwf425million) programme funded by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation operates in partnership with the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) under Wildlife Health Center.

The concept document further notes that this initiative will support gorilla conservation in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo by addressing human health, livestock health, and agricultural issues in this region where the gorillas live.

MGVP’s Director, Dr. Michael Cranfield, will oversee the work of the project’s seven veterinarians, 12 technicians and staff members in the three countries.

"This collaboration with UC-Davis will help improve the health and welfare of humans and animals living around the gorillas.”

"This in turn acts as a buffer to help prevent disease which mainly causes gorilla deaths - from entering the park and affecting gorilla families,” the statement quotes Cranfield in part.

Low-volume wood-burning stoves to protect forest habitat, alternative livelihoods to replace bush meat hunting with beekeeping and the promotion of ecotourism are among steps planned under the United Nations Year of the Gorilla 2009. Many experts are warning that without urgent action gorillas will become extinct in the wild within the next few decades.

In relation to the programme’s objectives, the One Health Programme will investigate disease threats facing mountain gorillas, help expand medical care for the humans working in and around the gorilla parks, and improve the health and well-being of livestock to benefit the families who depend on them for nutrition and income.

The document points out the urgent need for gorilla health emphasizing that the animals are so closely related to humans genetically therefore, gorilla health is strongly influenced by the health of people working and living nearby.

The statement also notes that so far, anti-poaching patrols and habitat-protection efforts of the Rwandan and other governments in conjunction with MGVP’s medical program have significantly contributed to the increased numbers of gorillas by 17 percent. 

"The mountain gorilla is apparently the only wild great ape whose numbers are rising,” the statement adds.

The Rwanda Development Board (RDB), through its tourism department, has introduced other measures to encourage protection and attach great importance to her mountain gorillas, one of which is the gorilla naming project (Kwita Izina).

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