Employee Health Program for Park Staff & Scientists

MGVP collaborates with park authorities and other non-governmental organizations and the Rwandan and Congolese Ministries of Health to provide employee health programs for park staff, porters, field veterinarians, and researchers who work on behalf of the mountain gorillas in the Virunga Mountains.  This is a voluntary, confidential program.  MGVP offers the program in Rwanda, to the staff of the Office Rwandais du Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux (ORTPN) and the Karisoke Research Station of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI); and, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to the Institut Congolese pour la Conservation de Nature.  In Uganda, discussions continue with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA).

The MGVP’s lab manager, Jean Paul Lukusa, also a professor of microbiology, administers this program in conjunction with local hospitals, which provide the necessary facilities, doctors, and nurses.  Results of the health exams are shared with each participant and appropriate follow-up care recommended.

The overall objectives of the EHP are to:

  1. Improve/maintain employee health and increase employee job satisfaction.
  2. Provide screening services to employees to ensure that their health status meets occupational health standards for employment as mountain gorilla field staff and to provide preventive immunization services to those newly hired prior to job initiation.
  3. Offer both primary preventive health services and secondary disease prevention through screening and follow-up (including referral or basic treatment) of positive cases at regular intervals.
  4. Establish the prevalence of clinical signs, pathogens and/or disease in employees as a baseline for monitoring employee health and as a sentinel group for surrounding community members.
  5. Minimize the risk of transmission of human disease from employees, or other members of the community in contact with them, to the mountain gorillas.