Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka

The founder of an NGO focussed on the coexistence of mountain gorillas and people, Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is based in Bwindi National Park, in Uganda. She has been recognised for her pioneering approach to gorilla conservation, receiving the Whitley Gold Award in 2009 and becoming a Tusk Award for Conservation finalist in 2019.

The NGO that she established and now leads, Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH), promotes conservation by improving the quality of life of people and wildlife to enable them to coexist in and around protected areas in Africa. It is this unusual approach that places local communities – and their wellbeing – at the heart of conservation that has gained Gladys and CTPH many plaudits.

CTPH came into being thanks to a scabies outbreak in Uganda in 1996, which spread from humans to gorillas, resulting in the death of an infant gorilla. It was then that Gladys realised that the survival of this critically endangered species was inextricably linked to the health of the local population, given how easily diseases transfer between humans and gorillas. Since then, CTPH has focussed on poverty alleviation and improving rural public health as a tool to aid conservation.