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FACT SHEET
Increased Sustainability in the Aquaculture Sector 
in sub-Saharan Africa, through Improved Aquatic 
Animal Health Management
Project goals
Background
Increased Sustainability in the Aquaculture Sector in African countries is 
a regional project on aquatic animal health research and education. Its 
goal is to increase sustainability and resilience in the aquaculture sector in 
African countries through improved aquatic animal health management 
and biosecurity governance. WorldFish and the Norwegian Veterinary 
Institute (NVI) will use their combined expertise to implement the project 
in two African countries, Ghana and Kenya, with support from the Fish 
for Africa Innovation Hub (FAIH) at WorldFish Abbassa in Egypt. Other 
African countries will benefit from this program as well, through their 
involvement in different training courses conducted at FAIH, either 
physically or virtually. 
African aquaculture is growing rapidly. Tilapia and catfish are the two 
most important farmed fish species on the continent, and in Kenya, 
specifically, rainbow trout farming has become an important part of 
the country’s aquaculture industry. Compared to salmon and shrimp, 
little attention and research investments have been made to better 
understand disease epidemiology and control mechanisms in these 
cultured fish groups. With increased intensification and the resultant 
proliferation of fish diseases, many African countries are now realizing 
the importance of biosecurity governance and of building better aquatic 
animal health research capacity and management to support sustainable 
aquaculture. International partnerships and collaboration with expert 
institutions are one way African countries can transition to developing 
and implementing better biosecurity measures. To this end, WorldFish 
and Norwegian Veterinary Institutes’s expertise can support mutual 
missions and objectives in Africa in collaboration with African institutions. 
Together, they will make informed decisions on future investments on the 
continent to support aquatic animal health management and biosecurity.
Project
Increased Sustainability in the 
Aquaculture Sector in sub-Saharan Africa, 
through Improved Aquatic Animal Health 
Management: Joint project of WorldFish 
and Norwegian Veterinary Institute
Donor
• Norwegian Agency for Development 
and Cooperation (Norad)
Partners
• The College of Basic and Applied 
Sciences (CBAS) of the University  
of Ghana 
• The College of Agriculture and 
Veterinary Sciences (CAVS) of the 
University of Nairobi 
Duration
December 2020–November 2024
Location
Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and other 
Africa countries
EGYPT
Kenya
Ghana
Sub-Saharan African countries
Project components
Acknowledgments
For this project, WorldFish and the NVI have partnered 
with the College of Basic and Applied Sciences at the 
University of Ghana and the College of Agriculture 
and Veterinary Sciences at the University of Nairobi. 
Together, they will use their expertise and tap into their 
international networks and those in African countries 
to achieve the following higher-level objectives:
• Improve research capacity on aquatic animal health 
management in African countries.
• Enhance institutional capacity and learners’ knowledge 
and practical skills on aquatic animal health to improve 
aquaculture-related education services and extension 
capacity in African countries.
• Share new knowledge on aquatic animal health in aquatic 
food systems in the framework of One Health and one food 
systems in African countries through sustainable networking.
Major components/activities
1. Research. The project will be anchored in Ghana and 
Kenya through 12 master’s research studentships/theses.
Research activities:
• Identify and address research/knowledge gaps on 
aquatic animal health management in Ghana and Kenya.
• Ensure that research findings and new knowledge 
on aquatic animal health are made available to 
relevant stakeholders (e.g. Department of Fisheries, 
policymakers, academic institutions, extension agents 
from the public and private sectors) in Ghana, Kenya 
and other African countries.
2. Education. The project will offer intensive practical training 
for MSc students to acquire the necessary skills needed 
for their studies. There is also a need to update education 
This work was undertaken as part of the CGIAR Research 
Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems (FISH) led by WorldFish 
and the Fish for Development - Aquaculture Ghana led by 
Norwegian Veterinary Institute. The programs are supported 
by contributors to the CGIAR Trust Fund and Norwegian 
Agency for Development Cooperation respectively.
Citation
This publication should be cited as: WorldFish, Norwegian Veterinary Institute, University of Nairobi and University of Ghana. 2021. Increased 
Sustainability in the Aquaculture Sector in sub-Saharan Africa, through Improved Aquatic Animal Health Management. Penang, Malaysia: WorldFish. 
Fact Sheet: 2021-10.
Creative Commons License
Content in this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which 
permits non-commercial use, including reproduction, adaptation and distribution of the publication provided the original work is properly cited. 
© 2021 WorldFish.
For more information, please visit www.worldfishcenter.org
and capacity building in aquatic animal health for service/
extension providers, so intensive training courses at FAIH 
will be conducted to support many African countries.
Education activities:
• Develop state-of-the-art educational modules on 
aquaculture and aquatic animal health, and make 
them available for implementing regular face-to-face 
and virtual training programs for countries in African 
countries from WorldFish’s FAIH in Abbassa.
• Make training programs on aquaculture and aquatic 
animal health management more available and better 
accessible for countries in African countries.
3. Networking. This project will link and leverage ongoing 
and past projects of WorldFish, the NVI and their partners to 
strengthen research, education, development, employment, 
collaboration and policy capacity in African countries.
Networking activities:
• Develop a dynamic and operational networking 
mechanism to share knowledge on aquatic animal 
health among African countries.
• Establish effective coordination as well as monitoring, 
evaluation and learning in order to capture the main 
highlights/achievements and to share knowledge.
Funded by In partnership with
UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI