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Online Experience during the JICA KCCP training

I am Joseph Byaruhanga, a researcher at Research Center for Tropical Diseases and Vector Control (RTC) at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. From November 2021 to February 2022, I attended the Knowledge Co-Creation Program (Group & Region Focus): Nurturing researchers of countermeasure for zoonosis including a parasitic disease, facilitated by JICA.

The program was implemented by national research center for protozoan diseases (NRCPD) under Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary medicine. I was lucky to attend the training together with other researchers of national/public institutes, lecturers of universities and colleges from countries across Africa, South America and Asia. I opted to attend the training to improve my skills in disease prevention, diagnostic techniques and therapeutics to deal with the control of globally important infectious diseases in developing countries / regions.

Despite the interruption by the COVID-19 pandemic world over, I was able to attend and participate in the training online. It enhanced my knowledge and skills in research on ticks and tick borne diseases, particularly tick biology research. I was also able to develop a research concept which I submitted to my supervisor (Professor Rika Shirafuji) for sharing with the university and JICA.

Additionally, the training sharpened my skills and knowledge regarding the epidemiology of zoonotic diseases in a global context. Furthermore, and improved my skills in conducting molecular tests such as PCR, cloning, sequencing and sequence analysis. This training was very relevant to my current work and career plan.

The facilitators were subject matter experts and I enjoyed the lectures and the practical sessions. I was able to achieve the training targets and my training expectations were largely met. I will highly recommend this training to my colleagues so that they can also expand their capacity on zoonotic disease epidemiology. Although the online training was largely successful, we faced minor challenges including internet network disruptions and online practical sessions denied us a chance to have a hands on practical experience which would have enhanced our confidence in conducting the techniques by ourselves.

I would like to extend my appreciation to JICA Uganda and to appeal to the Office to consider;

• arranging a special session for our team who trained online to visit Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine and conduct hands on practical sessions and also learn the Japanese culture.
• providing the resources for example through a JICA follow up project to support the implementation of the research proposal developed during this training.

Arigatou Gozaimas!

With a JICA Representative Mr. YUKI Inoue.

With a JICA Representative Mr. YUKI Inoue.