Dr Jean Felix Kinani Sangwa officially joined the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) on 19 January 2026, as Project Officer for the Enhancing zoonotic disease surveillance in Africa Project (ZOOSURSY), based at the WOAH Sub-Regional Representation in Nairobi, Kenya, covering a selection of Member Countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, i.e. Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The ZOOSURSY Project, funded by the European Union, builds on the principle that strengthening surveillance and early detection of these diseases is key to preventing future outbreaks. Hence enhancing research, diagnostics, and policy to protect both animal and human health is at the core of ZOOSURSY.
Led by WOAH, in collaboration with CIRAD, IRD, Institut Pasteur, the Helmholtz Institute for One Health, and the University of Helsinki, the project fosters One Health collaboration.
A Rwandan national, Dr Jean Felix Kinani Sangwa is a Doctor in veterinary medicine (DVM) and has a track-record of more than 22 years in wildlife medicine, working through the One Health approach. He successfully completed a Master course in Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme (FELTP) with the aim to protect biodiversity threatened within their natural habitat.
He was responsible for the health of the endangered mountain gorillas, the critical endangered lowland gorilla and the golden monkey health care in the Volcanoes National Park for 12 years. He contributed to the development of conservation policies for East Africa national parks and protected areas funded and/or implemented by different governments, USAID, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) and Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration (GVTC).
He has acted as the World Animal Health Organisation’s national focal point for Wildlife for Rwanda and as the PATTEC Coordinator from 2010 to 2018, reporting WOAH listed wildlife disease. He provides lectures at the Higher Institute of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (University of Rwanda) on Wildlife management, implementation and management of protected areas, parks, sanctuaries and zoos, as well as on One Health and Ecotourism and Natural resources courses.
Within the 5 years of expertise with the World Health Organization (WHO), including at its Geneva Headquarters, he acted as the Ebola Team lead for Preparedness and Readiness Operation activity in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Rapid Response Team Coordinator, based in Kinshasa and then in Goma for the overall coordination of readiness operation with the aims to prevent the Ebola Virus Disease infection. As WHO Liaison Officer he supported 47 Member States within the WHO-AFRO Region.
He also worked on numerous programmes to support countries and to coordinate international action, to prevent, prepare, detect, respond, and recover from outbreaks and emergencies (WHO, US-CDC, FAO, WCS, USAID EPT 1 and 2, DAI and OHCEA), worked for US-CDC as Surveillance Technical officer in Mbandaka, DRC in 2021 and as the USAID-funded National One Health Technical Advisor (NOHTA) for the development of the first One Health Strategic Plan for Rwanda in 2017.
Fluent in English, French, Swahili, Lingala and Kinyarwanda, Jean-Felix can be reached at [email protected]
