One of Population Connection’s first partners was Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH). Based in Uganda, CTPH is an award-winning leader in gorilla and wildlife conservation. The organization’s vital mission is to focus on the health and interspecies relationships of wildlife, humans, and livestock in and around East Africa’s protected areas.
The organization works to improve the health and livelihoods of people by preventing and controlling disease transmission between closely genetically related people and gorillas. One of the ways CTPH programs do this is by expanding voluntary access to family planning to promote a sustainable balance between humans and gorillas.
Wildlife veterinarian and CTPH founder and CEO Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka (also known as “Dr. Gladys”) started CTPH in 2003 to stop the spread of diseases passing between people, wildlife, and livestock. Since then, CTPH has worked to reduce people’s dependence on protected lands and the wildlife that reside there, improving their health and well-being in the process.