Livestock account for over 60% of agricultural GDP in the Horn of Africa, yet the same animals that sustain families also spread disease. The HORN project builds a network of researchers across Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia to tackle this dual reality under the "One Health" framework—the idea that human health, animal health, and environmental health are inseparable. The problem is stark: outbreaks of animal disease directly harm people’s health, wealth, and nutrition in a region where livelihoods depend on livestock. Current research capacity is too weak to detect, diagnose, or control these threats effectively. HORN addresses this gap by strengthening local organisations through a five-step process: assessing capacity, training non-academic staff (finance, IT, leadership), running workshops and masterclasses for academic researchers, funding short research projects co-created at group events, and fostering cross-border mobility. If successful, HORN will create a self-sustaining regional network capable of producing high-quality research on human-animal-environment interactions. This could lead to better disease surveillance, improved agricultural systems, reduced malnutrition, and greater financial resilience for millions of pastoralists and farmers. The project does not deliver immediate treatments or vaccines—it builds the human and institutional infrastructure to generate that knowledge locally, over the long term.
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One Health is the concept that the health and well-being of people is linked to the health of their animals and the environment. It is nowhere more true than in the Horn of Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia) where many people's livelihoods are highly, or in some cases entirely, dependent on livestock. Animals are culturally, socially and economically vital in the region. Livestock provide, for example, over 60% of agricultural GDP in the Horn. Livestock are also a source of human disease. Outbreaks of disease in animals thereby directly affect people's health but also their wealth and nutrition. Livestock production and human health and wellbeing in the Horn of Africa can be increased through research, leading to improved agricultural systems; more food and less malnutrition; more financial resilience; and better detection, diagnosis, prevention and control of disease. HORN's mission is to improve the health and wealth of the people of the Horn of Africa by increasing the local capacity to undertake high quality research in the interactions between people and animals - One Health. HORN aims to develop a One Health Regional Network - a network of individuals and organisations across the Horn of Africa that can undertake high quality research into the link between people's health and wealth and that of livestock and the environment. HORN will strengthen the ability of organisations to undertake research with a 5 step process. (i) First, the current research capacity of the organisations will be assessed, relative to their goals; a plan will then be developed to bridge the gap, implemented, and progress will be monitored. (ii) Following from #1, training will be provided to non-academics in these organisations that have roles that provide the foundations for research: these could be leadership roles, technical roles or other roles, such as in finance or contracts or IT. (iii) Training will also be provided to academic researchers from the region. Workshops and short courses (2-5 days), 4-8 week masterclasses and summer schools will educate researchers in aspects of One Health, as well as providing the generic skills that underpin high quality research, like research methods, statistics, presentation, grantsmanship. An e-learning platform will enable a wider body of researchers to access the course material. (iv) Researchers will 'learn on the job' by undertaking research projects of 3-12 months duration. These projects will be co-created (by discussion and interaction with expert academics) at group events ('sandpits'), with successful ideas rapidly agreed and funded. Mobility of many researchers between countries is envisaged, with research focused in specific parts of Kenya and Ethiopia. UK researchers will be based in these countries too, following research programmes aligned with the development challenges, and providing supervision and mentoring to the researchers from the Horn countries. (v) By bringing people together, encouraging mobility and increasing the number of organisations who bid in for research projects, we intend to develop the One Health Regional Network for the Horn of Africa - HORN.
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