One Health AI Solutions for Zoonotic Risks in Senegal

Overview

Zoonotic diseases, illnesses that pass between animals and humans, are on the rise in Senegal, driven in part by the shifting ecological conditions that climate change continues to accelerate. For the communities living closest to this risk, the gap between an emerging outbreak and an effective response can be devastating. Women and other historically marginalised groups bear a disproportionate share of that burden.

This project brings together artificial intelligence, hybrid modelling, and a One Health framework to close that gap. Working at the intersection of human, animal, and environmental health, it strengthens community-based surveillance systems capable of detecting zoonotic threats early and triggering timely responses. AI and data science tools are integrated with locally grounded, gender-sensitive approaches to ensure that the people most exposed to disease risk are also active participants in monitoring it.

The result is an early warning system built not just for Senegal's epidemiological realities, but for its social and cultural ones too. By embedding community knowledge into system design and ensuring tools are inclusive and context-appropriate, the project offers a model for how AI can serve public health in ways that are equitable, ecologically aware, and genuinely responsive to life on the ground.