A new report from ILRI and IIED reviews the effectiveness of training and certification schemes designed to give small-scale ‘informal’ sellers of ‘raw’ and/or boiled or informally pasteurized milk and (in India) milk sweets greater market access in East Africa and South Asia. The report reviews such schemes in Kenya and Tanzania and in the state of Assam, in northwestern India. In all three countries, the informal sector dominates dairy marketing and trade and informal milk production and trade contribute significantly to the employment, livelihoods and nutrition of many millions of poor people. Continue reading
Category Archives: A4NH
FOOD SAFETY: In support the traditional—and essential—food markets of low-income countries
On this World Food Safety Day (7 June 2020), staff of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) make the case for supporting traditional markets to improve food safety. Continue reading
FOOD SAFETY: A point of departure for preventing diseases originating in the world’s food systems
To mark World Food Safety Day today, 7 June 2010, three of the world’s leading food safety experts investigate opportunities for building back better food systems and nutrition in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Continue reading
Twitter Moment: ILRI-UNEP explore ‘One Health’ at the Global Landscapes Forum
Twitter Moment: “ILRI-UNEP explore ‘One Health’ at the Global Landscapes Forum” Continue reading
Poor communities: Ground zero for emerging animal-to-human diseases—and for the existential crises they beget
Diseases that jump from animals to people are known by scientists as zoonoses. You may have heard of the headline-grabbing zoonoses named above. But others may be rather less familiar. Continue reading
New project to strengthen veterinary service delivery in Ethiopia
A new four-year (2019-2022) European Union-funded project known as Health of Ethiopian Animals for Rural Development (HEARD) has been launched in Ethiopia. The EUR15 million project, which is led by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), builds upon the experience and lessons learned from other animal health projects in the country. Continue reading
Overuse and misuse of antibiotics – a problem driven by the world’s poor and rich alike
As reported this week by Andrew Jacobs and Matt Richtel in the New York Times, ‘Kibera residents are prodigious consumers of antibiotics’. Kibera area, one of Africa’s largest urban slums, is located in Nairobi, Kenya, with a population of around one million. Most people in the slum lack access to running water, electricity and … Continue reading
Drug resistance could make millions of people poorer
As reported this week by Jacqueline Ogada, a journalist at SciDevNet, the director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) said recently that ‘reducing the use of antimicrobials in agriculture as well as medicine . . . can make a huge difference’ in protecting public health. ILRI director general Jimmy Smith said this at … Continue reading
‘We can’t modernize, regulate or train our way to food safety in Africa’—ILRI epidemiologist Silvia Alonso
Veterinary epidemiologist Silvia Alonso works at ILRI, where she contributes to the food safety flagship of the CGIAR Research Program for Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), which is led by ILRI’s sister organization IFPRI. Alonso had some eye-popping things to say about food safety in Africa at the ‘First FAO/WHO/AU International Food Safety’ conference, held in Addis Ababa, 12–13 Feb 2019. Continue reading
More public heath investment key to addressing food-borne diseases in Africa
Greater investments in public health in sub-Saharan Africa are needed to address specific food safety risks such as Salmonella and E.coli that local consumers face when purchasing from informal food markets. Continue reading