Senegal/The "Janax yi ak nit ñi" play raises awareness of "health and agricultural risks linked to rodents".
The Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) has launched a nationwide tour of "Janax yi ak nit ñi" (Rodents and Humans), a play that raises awareness of "the health and agricultural risks associated with rodents, combining humor, emotion and everyday situations".
The tour is organized in partnership with the Haut Conseil national de la Sécurité sanitaire One Health, the Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis, the Centre de cooperaration internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD), Compagnie Gratte Noyau, KB Ingénierie Consulting Sénégal and the Grand Théâtre national Doudou Ndiaye Coumba Rose.
Following the "success" of the preview at the Centre Culturel Régional Blaise Senghor in Dakar, the show will be staged in Saint-Louis, Kolda, Banjul, Podor, Louga, Kédougou and Tambacounda, among other localities, from February 24 to April 26, according to a press release from the French Embassy in Dakar.
The same source points out that "among the highlights" of this tour is "an exceptional performance" at the Grand Théâ tre national Doudou Ndiaye.tre national Doudou Ndiaye Coumba Rose, on March 11, to offer "national visibility to the project and a space for exchange with the general public and decision-makers".
"Faced with health and agricultural risks that the general public is often unaware of, placing scientific research at the service of artistic creation is a way of raising awareness among new audiences", the document points out.
" A major public health issue
The text notes that "it was from this perspective that Janax yi ak nit ñi (Rodents and Humans) was born, a play resulting from a close dialogue between researchers and artists".
He points out that in Senegal, and more widely in West Africa, "certain rodent species are both reservoirs of zoonotic diseases (transmissible from animal to human) and responsible for the spread of infectious diseases.animal to human) and are responsible for major agricultural damage, undermining the livelihoods of rural populations and food security".
According to the text, "understanding their dynamics and their interactions with the environment and human practices is a major public health issue".
The document explains that "the piece draws on several scientific reference programs and networks, BIOPASS, ObsMICE, WAN@BI and AfriCam/PREZODE, which are part of theOne Health approach, which recognizes the interdependence between human health, animal health and ecosystem health".
For the play's authors, "by putting these issues into narrative form, Janax yi ak nit ñi offers another way of tackling complex, sensitive and sometimes anxiety-provoking issues".
Performed in Wolof, with a French voice-over, the play "blends everyday situations, humor and emotion to raise awareness of the health and agricultural risks associated with rodents, without moralizing".
This touring production will be performed 13 times in Senegal, "as close as possible to the areas concerned, in order to encourage exchanges, questioning and discussions between citizens, researchers and local players".
The organizers emphasize that "each performance is conceived as a meeting place, providing an opportunity to discuss prevention practices, local perceptions of risk and solutions adapted to community realities".
Source: aps.sn/
