Category Archives: Zoonotic Diseases

Under emerging zoonotic diseases, we work on bird flu and other emerging diseases in developing countries, understanding and mapping the risks associated with these.

Animal Breeding / Biodiversity / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Film and video / Food Safety Zoonoses / ILRI / PA / Poultry / USA / Zoonotic Diseases

Heritage breed chickens: America’s new ‘gateway livestock’–Plus film on chicken boom in poor countries

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New 5-minute ILRI film, New approaches to chicken farming reduce poverty without adding to disease risks.  ‘. . . Before he got into chickens, Bradshaw had raised pork and cattle on Greenfire Farms, his plot of land 12 miles west of Tallahassee, FL. Now Bradshaw has stopped farming cattle and pork entirely, fully dedicating his operations … Continue reading »

Agri-Health / CRP4 / Dairying / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / Health (human) / ILRI / Kenya / MarketOpps / PA / Project / Zoonotic Diseases

From ‘urban cowboy’ to urban cow ban? That would be a mistake — raw vegetables can be more dangerous

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A dairy cow on a smallholder farm in Ol Kalou, near Nairobi, Kenya (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu). Should farm animals share our cityscapes with us? While policies are often based on the prejudice that urban livestock keeping is unsafe, scientific evidence shows that poor people continue to benefit more than be harmed by raising livestock … Continue reading »

Agri-Health / CRP4 / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Food security / Health (human) / ILRI / Kenya / MarketOpps / Nutrition (human) / PA / Southern Africa / Zoonotic Diseases

Living with livestock, and livestock livings, in the city

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Goat in Nairobi slum (photo on Flickr by The Advocacy Project). ‘. . . [L]et’s consider what it means to raise urban livestock in the developing world, where people are poorer and hungrier, and cities are much more densely populated. It’s a starkly different picture of people and animals living together, and the question of … Continue reading »

Animal Diseases / Camels / Dairying / Disease Control / East Africa / Health (human) / ILRI / Interview / Kenya / MarketOpps / Pastoralism / Zoonotic Diseases

Keeping camels, and their keepers, free of disease in Kenya, where ‘raw’ camel milk is becoming popular

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Camels cover dozens of kilometres in search of water; average distances to watering points in the outskirts of Marsabit and Moyale, in the upper east corner of Kenya, run into dozens of kilometres (photo by Ann Weru/IRIN www.irinnews.org). ‘Camels are known for their ability to travel long distances across the desert without water. ‘But they’re also … Continue reading »

Agri-Health / CRP4 / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Health (human) / ILRI / Kenya / MarketOpps / PA / Zoonotic Diseases

As livestock farming intensifies in poor countries, so can livestock–and livestock-to-human–diseases

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The health of people and their farm animals in Kenya and other developing countries are closely linked (photo credit: ILRI/Charlie Pye-Smith). ‘While livestock contribute about 40 per cent of the value of agriculture and forms a crucial part of household wealth [in Kenya and many other developing countries], experts now say keeping animals is spreading … Continue reading »

Agri-Health / Article / CRP4 / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Food Safety / Health (human) / ILRI / Interview / Kenya / MarketOpps / Nutrition (human) / PA / Policy / Report / Zoonotic Diseases

Keeping cows in the city, chickens under the bed: ‘The Atlantic’ magazine explores Africa’s urbanization

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Butcher shop in a slum in Kawangare, Nairobi, Kenya (picture on Flickr by Brad Ruggles). It’s not only people who are rapidly urbanizing in Africa: people migrating from rural areas are bringing their livelihoods with them, which in Africa largely means their cattle, goats, sheep, chickens and pigs. A scientific report from researchers based in … Continue reading »

Agri-Health / Article / Disease Control / East Africa / Epidemiology / Ethiopia / Health (human) / ILRI / MarketOpps / PA / Zoonotic Diseases

An old-fashioned disease threatens ancient culture / emerging economy: TB in Ethiopia

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ILRI’s ‘A disease called poverty’ poster: An old-fashioned deadly disease is emerging from an ancient culture and an emerging economy (poster credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). ‘Ethiopia has the largest cattle population in Africa. The vast majority of the national herd is of indigenous zebu cattle maintained in rural areas under extensive husbandry systems. However, in response … Continue reading »

Article / CRP4 / East Africa / Film and video / ILRI / Intensification / Interview / Kenya / MarketOpps / PA / Zoonotic Diseases

The profits of livestock farming in Nairobi’s slums: Better health and wealth

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Sheep look for food outside the house of Josephine Napkonde, 78, who lives in a slum in Nairobi and looks after 5 children abandoned by a relative (photo on Flickr by HelpAge International/Frederic Courbet). ‘Kahawa Soweto is a slum on the northeast edge of Nairobi, Kenya. . . . It’s a densely packed area, and it’s not … Continue reading »

Agri-Health / Animal Health / Article / CRP4 / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / Geodata / Health (human) / ILRI / MarketOpps / PA / Wildlife / Zoonotic Diseases

Pathogen ecologies and human interventions: The natural and unnatural histories of zoonotic diseases

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Three diapered goats in the boot of a car in Bamako, Mali (photo on Flickr by Romel Jacinto/37 °C). This week, the Lancet publishes a series of three papers on diseases that are ‘zoonotic’, that is, infections shared by people and other animals. As William Keresh of EcoHealth Alliance (New York) and his colleagues explain in … Continue reading »

Agri-Health / Climate Change / CRP4 / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Environment / Food security / Kenya / RVF / Zoonotic Diseases

Healthy Futures project examines ways to understand vector-borne diseases, climate change and food security

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Together with regional stakeholders, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) generated so-called ‘socio-economic scenarios’.  These scenarios aim to explore key regional socio-economic and governance uncertainties for food security, environment and livelihoods through integrated qualitative-quantitative descriptions of plausible futures to 2030. The CCAFS vision has been to use these scenarios with … Continue reading »