At a working group meeting held in 2000, it was recognized by member countries that throughout the region there are a number of topics in the field of animal health particularly ticks and tick-borne diseases that need to be researched on.The CTTBD was mandated to seek collaborative work with reputable institutions pursuing various research topics particularly in the field of vector-borne diseases. The CTTBD has had collaborations with
- . Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) -Belgium
- . Pfizer
- . Intervet
- . University of Pretoria
- . Ondersterpoort Veterinary Institute(OVI)
- . Ondersterpoort Biological Products (OBP)
- . University of Zambia (UNZA)
- . Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA)
- . University of Malawi (Bunda College of Agriculture)
- . Karolinska Institute in Sweden
- . University of Verona in Italy
- . Texas A&M university in the United States
- . Various government laboratories in the SADC region.