Biography Dr. Yimesgen Tarekegn
Students and Alumni Symposium
Topic: Student One Health champions as Change Agents for Climate Change and AMR: My Experience
Dr. Yimesgen Tarekegn is veterinarian and public health professional aspiring to break the silos in health understanding and development. Dr. Yimesgen is now the co-founder of Beyond Student for Change and The Blue Vet, which aims to empower youth and transform the livestock sector in Ethiopia through advocacy and community engagement.
Dr. Yimesgen was the Animal Welfare Program coordinator for Elnet Foundation from 2021-2024. At Elnet Foundation, Dr. Yimesgen oversaw the work that helped the realization of the high-end and first-of-its-kind mobile veterinary service in Ethiopia, inaugurated on November 2023. The mobile service is designed specifically for the improvement of equine welfare in Ethiopia.
He is the founding member of the Ethiopia Students One Health Innovation Club with the AFROHUN Ethiopia county office. He is the One Health Champion of 2021 AFROHUN-USAID One Health Workforce – Next Generation in recognition of his strong commitment to promoting one health approach and community-led activities.
He began the OH activity at Jimma University in 2014 – joining the OHCEA/AFROHUN SOHIC and contributed as vice president, president, and activity lead of the SOHIC of AFROHUN Ethiopia from 2014-2024, now he is actively taking part in Ethiopia’s One Health approach multi-sectoral coordination – working closely with government ministries, international development partners, and many actors in the system. He is a young Ethiopian leader who is very much engaged in promoting the One Health approach and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).
He is enthusiastic about the role that veterinary science can play in improving animal health in Ethiopia, and he wants the country to optimally benefit from its huge livestock population. He initially started the Beyond Student for Change initiative to share information and volunteer opportunities among his fellow veterinary science students, but now he hopes that this will become a collaborative effort where students from all of Ethiopia’s universities volunteer in their respective fields. He is actively taking part in and developing veterinary journalism in Ethiopia with interests in One Health and animal welfare. He is also the co-founder and leading The Blue Vet, which is one of the portfolios of the Beyond Student for Change initiative.
Dr. Yimesgen Tarekegn
AFROHUN
Regional One Health university networks in advancing global health security: developing workforce and fighting antimicrobial resistance in the era of climate change.
This conference is co-funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.