Dr Tony Michel Monda, a Zimbabwean Public Health professional and Agro-Veterinary Epidemiologist, was honoured in December 2023, by a consortium of pharmaceutical companies and pharmacologists in Geneva, Switzerland, for his contributions to Public Health awareness, animal health and public veterinary medicine in Zimbabwe especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its affect on Public Health and man’s dependency on animals for protein.
Despite numerous difficulties, logistic limitations and challenges, and at personal expense he carried out countrywide research and analysis on public health, public health communication, rural health care, healthcare systems, animal health, zoonotic diseases, and disease control in Zimbabwe.
His first-hand research throughout the country demonstrates his thorough understanding of the new age concept of One Health and creating the necessary symbiosis between effective communication, education and practical application of primary animal health and his resolute commitment to animal health and disease control in Zimbabwe.
Monda, who has invested in agricultural human development and the compilation of agro economic data that informs national agricultural policy, was also honoured in Italy recently for his detailed investigations and analysis, based on first-hand encounters with farmers throughout the country’s provinces.
His advocacy for the use of TK and indigenous based technologies for the benefit of rural and national agricultural production, Food Security, Micronutrient deficiency and malnutrition, climate change, agriculture and global warming, livestock husbandry, cattle production, as well as the promoting of small grains, organic farming, land and soil conservation, ecology and ecological conservation have earned him international accolades for the promotion of conservation agriculture in Zimbabwe.
According to the Italian-based FAO – “Monda’s unique contribution to agriculture and diseases control in Zimbabwe echoes FAO’s mission to improve agrifood economics, ensure sustainable animal production and health, mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis and safeguard biodiversity and the environment using indigenous heritage and the essence and substance of culture in indigenous languages to relate to people is highly commended . . .”
He was also highly commended by UN agencies and other international organisations who acknowledged “the novel and consistent way he tackled global food security and development issues and policies that have an impact on Zimbabwe”
Monda was recently applauded for his Public Health communication in the mass-media and digital platforms for information on health and agro-veterinary issues – “presented in a novel and consistent way, . . . that is accessible to the layman and edifying for the professional”, according to the chief adjudicators for the 2023 APHCA – Afro Public Health Communicator Award.
Monda’s research, reports and recommendations covered: agricultural technical innovation, agricultural support policy, occupational health and safety in agriculture, integrated pest management, pest and disease control in horticulture, pest and disease control in communal areas, dairy farming, organic farming, sustainable farming, smart farming, robotics and digital apps, water security, aquaculture, agricultural law, agriculture support policy and investment, agro economics, agricultural reform, investment in agriculture, land rehabilitation and conservation, veterinary epidemiology, veterinary pharmacology, animal health, animal virology, animal genetic resources, genomics and cattle breeding, amongst many others. These have formed the basis of many agricultural legislation and policy development in Zimbabwe, and align with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and FAO’s missions of sustainability and food security in tandem with environmental protection.
Monda’s published and broadcast work interrogate agricultural policy, development and innovations issues in Zimbabwe relating to four inter-related development pillars on the role of nutrition in human health
Monda has been writing since 1995. He is the first indigenous Zimbabwean to research and write extensively on agriculture in Zimbabwe, his unique, informative and extensive articles on cattle heritage and cattle culture of Zimbabwe first published in the Patriot, currently appear on Zifm website.
His practical field research work and peer-reviewed articles are referenced in over 600 academic papers in various regional and international universities and academic institutions, have empowered countless indigenous new farmers since the land reform, especially rural women farmers and new farmers.
Internationally trained and with an impressive local, regional and international track record in agriculture, Agro-Veterinary Epidemiology and Clinical Animal Pharmacology; including the development of ethno-botanical indigenous medicines, land management, specialist agronomy, and pharmacology for general agro-production, Monda has carried out over 8 years of concerted research and interface with both communal and commercial farmers.
He is experienced the fields of veterinary epidemiology, veterinary pharmacology and public veterinary medicine
His inter-disciplinary studies began in the early 1900s in the USA, when as the youngest and first indigenous Zimbabwean, Monda, was awarded the USIA-Young African Leaders Initiative Travelling Scholarship to study in America. He holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) Certificate from Colorado State University; ancillary certification in Epidemiology from the University of Washington in Seattle and Purdue University, where he attained a Masters in Public Veterinary Medicine (MPVM), and a Masters in Public Health Communication.
In 2011 he attained a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA), from the University of Washington, Seattle.
During his extensive training in America, Monda attended health and sciences institutions with an emphasis on medical development for Africa. These included: Cornell University, University of California – Davis, Seattle University School of Veterinary Medicine, Tuskegee University, University of Wyoming, Missouri State University (MSU), University of Texas, Austin. He specialised in microbiology, pathology, epidemiology and zoonotic disease control, veterinary animal health, and occupational health and safety and public medical communication from Western University of Health Sciences where he undertook medical sociology majoring in communication for IDC.
In the USA, Monda worked as an intern and received specialist practical training at various universities, hospitals, medical dispensaries and pharmaceutical concerns.
He undertook further research initiatives in specific areas of medicine, veterinary science, epidemiology, pathology, pharmacology, medical digital technology, emergency internal medicine, zoonotic disease diagnostics, social aspects of disease control as well as pharmaceutical procurement marketing and distribution.
He served on various commissions covering public health, public health governance, policies and laws, veterinary medicine governance, policies and laws, water and sanitation management, zoonotic disease control, bio-security and environmental health, public health communication and pharmaceutical marketing, digital medical technologies and instruments.
In the UK Monda undertook animal virology and veterinary medical epidemiology at Harper Adams Agricultural College (University), from where he also holds a PhD in Agriculture, Agronomy and Animal Science.
He attended the Royal Agricultural College and Reading University, attaining certification in land and water management, agronomy and agricultural bio-security, and a diploma in business and agricultural development studies.
He is the first Zimbabwean to attain the cross-discipline, international post-graduate university education degree in agricultural business and veterinary epidemiology achieving his Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA).
Monda also received agricultural extension education in the USA, Canada, Brazil, EU, Sweden, Malaysia and Eastern and Southern Africa where he gained specialist hands-on training in Agricultural Mechanisation and Maintenance, Irrigation, Abattoir Management, Cattle Feeding Systems, EBV and Cattle Genomics, Heritage Farming, Viticulture, Citriculture, Botanical Conservation, Forestry Conservation, Floriculture.
More recently, Dr. Monda was an invited guest at the Africa Health & Medlab Africa, in October at the Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa, and an invited guest and public health correspondent at the World AMR Awareness Week – Preventing Antimicrobials Resistance in Africa, held in November 2023, at the HICC, in Harare, and the Gender Awareness and Activism Week exhibition at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe officiated by HE Ms Margret Verwijk, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Zimbabwe.
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