Author Archives: Susan MacMillan

Africa / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Directorate / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / ILRI / Nigeria / Zoonotic Diseases

ILRI report says Africa’s veterinary services inadequate to deal with new disease threats

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Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper reports on warning given by scientists about the insufficient capacity of Africa’s current veterinary services to deal with new disease threats. ‘According to new assessments, reported yesterday at the International Conference on Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition & Health in New Delhi, India, “Wealthy countries are effectively dealing with livestock diseases, but … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Asia / Directorate / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / ILRI / Latin America / Zoonotic Diseases

Animals, not people, should serve as sentinels of infectious diseases of both–Delia Grace

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A girl shares the entrance to her house with a family of chickens in Oyo State, Nigeria (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). Researchers at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) argue in an opinion piece published yesterday on the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog (11 February 2011) that the best way to reduce the threat of infectious diseases … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Asia / Directorate / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / ILRI / India / Latin America / Research / Zoonotic Diseases

Close the gaps between agriculture, health and nutrition–Indian Prime Minister

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During the inaugural session of an international conference in New Delhi that is closing today, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for greater investments to close the gaps in knowledge of how agriculture, nutrition and health are linked. The conference is organized by the International Food Policy Research Institute. The CGIAR in Action blog reports … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Asia / Directorate / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / ILRI / Latin America / Zoonotic Diseases

Growing number of farm animals spawn new diseases

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From Hong Kong comes this report from MSNBC about research conducted by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). ‘A growing number of livestock, such as cows and pigs, are fuelling new animal epidemics worldwide and posing more severe problems in developing countries as it threatens their food security, according to a report released on Friday. … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Asia / Directorate / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / Latin America / Zoonotic Diseases

ILRI warns of health dangers of global livestock boom

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‘The livestock boom could increase the number of animal plagues while further compromising food security. ‘The Deputy Director General of research at the International Livestock Research Institute – ILRI John McDermott said increasing the numbers of domestic livestock through resource-intensive production methods is increasing animal epidemics around the world. ‘McDermott says the problem is more … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Diseases / Asia / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / ILRI / India / South Asia / Zoonotic Diseases

Of plagues and livestock–The Economist reports on ILRI research at the animal-human interface

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A pig scavenges for food in trash outside a poor household in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). The Economist today (10 February 2011) reports on news from the International Livestock Research Institute, being discussed this week at an international conference on agriculture, nutrition and health in New Delhi, India, of the critical need … Continue reading →

Africa / Livelihoods / NRM / WLE

If medicine is the ‘hardware’ of development, what’s the software?

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This week’s Economist carries an interesting lead to a piece by Bill Gates as guest writer for the magazine’s Baobab column. ‘In the past five years, Bill and Melinda Gates have given more money and ideas to Africa than most European countries. They discovered early on that the problem with philanthropy in Africa was finding … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Drought / Environment / Food Security

Severe weather events are behind soaring food prices–Paul Krugman

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Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman argues in the New York Times recently that it is severe weather events, exactly the kind of thing we’d expect to see with climate change, that have disrupted global agricultural food production, causing world food prices to hit a record high in January (2011). ‘We’re in the midst of a global food … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / CGIAR / Directorate / ILRI / Latin America / Research

A new CGIAR waits for donors to come through with promised funds

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Jonathan Wadsworth, formerly of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and newly appointed executive director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Fund, at a meeting of the CGIAR Transition Management Team in Penang, Malaysia, in 2009 (picture credit: ILRI/MacMillan). The prestigious American science journal Science has published today (4 February 2011) … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / BecA / Human Health

‘Africa rising’–Bill Gates on what’s working in health and agriculture

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Bill Gates made a private visit to the Biosciences eastern and central Africa Hub (BecA Hub), hosted and managed by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, in early December 2009, and toured the new and refurbished labs (photo credit: ILRI/Ouma). Bill Gates writes in his third annual letter that he sees ‘Africa … Continue reading →