The non-profit, international conservation organisation called Wildlife Trust is founded in 1971 by British naturalist, author and television personality Gerald M. Durrell. It purpose is to empower conservation scientists that are “dedicated to protecting wildlife and safeguarding human and animal health.”
In a press release dated September 21, 2010, the Wildlife Trust rebrands itself as EcoHealth Alliance.
“The new branding puts health and medicine center stage with wildlife conservation taking a back seat.”
EcoHealth Alliance pioneered Conservation Medicine and their mission is to address the link between “wildlife, livestock, human health and survival”. Their work includes research into emerging infectious diseases. [3]
They are positioning themselves to be on “the forefront of informing the public, businesses, and the scientific community about emerging diseases, including potential pandemics.” [1]
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been working with “EcoHealth Alliance” since 2009 to institute a new global emerging pandemic threat program called PREDICT (to research emerging diseases among high-risk wildlife and in high-risk countries) based on EcoHealth Alliance’s disease-outbreak hotspots map. [2]