Kenya is hotspot for alfatoxin-related deaths–Report

Posted on 4 Apr 2014 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

‘The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has commissioned a research project that will ascertain the levels of aflatoxins in the milk consumed in Kenya. ‘Kenyans consume more than 145 litres of milk per person annually increasing the risks associated with milk-related aflatoxins. Because of the higher milk consumption, especially by young children, pregnant and nursing … Continue reading →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Feeding / Animal Health / Animal Products / BecA / Burkina Faso / CGIAR / Dairying / Disease Control / Epidemiology / Film and video / Food Safety / FSZ / Ghana / Human Health / ILRI / ILRIComms / Kenya / Launch / Mali / Nigeria / Project / Senegal / Tanzania

Aflatoxins: New briefs disclose the threat to people and livestock and what research is doing about it

Posted on 30 Mar 2014 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

A damaged maize cob that, if harvested with clean cobs, can contaminate all the cobs with aflatoxins (photo credit: Joseph Atehnkeng/IITA). ‘The UN World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that billions of people in the developing world are chronically exposed to aflatoxin, a natural poison on food crops which causes cancer, impairs the immune system, inhibits … Continue reading →

A4NH / Cattle / Dairying / Disease Control / East Africa / Feeds / Food Safety / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / ILRIComms / Kenya / Value Chains

Are aflatoxins contaminating the milk you’re drinking in Kenya? New research to find out

Posted on 27 Mar 2014 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has commissioned research to ascertain the levels of aflatoxins in the milk consumed in Kenya. Studies say every Kenyan consumes over 145 litres annually-higher than other Africans – increasing the risk of milk-related aflatoxins. Continue reading →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Dairying / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Project / Zoonotic Diseases

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

Posted on 25 May 2013 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

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 →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Food Security / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Nutrition / Southern Africa / Zoonotic Diseases

Living with livestock, and livestock livings, in the city

Posted on 22 May 2013 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

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 / Human Health / ILRI / Interview / Kenya / Pastoralism / Zoonotic Diseases

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

Posted on 11 May 2013 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

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 →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Zoonotic Diseases

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

Posted on 6 May 2013 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

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 →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Food Safety / Human Health / ILRI / Interview / Kenya / Nutrition / Policy / Report / Zoonotic Diseases

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

Posted on 8 Apr 2013 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

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 / Animal Production / Emerging Diseases / Food Safety / Human Health / ILRI / Intensification / Livestock Systems / Pigs / Poultry

Misuse of antibiotics and ‘factory farming’ of animals: Alarm bells sound

Posted on 18 Mar 2013 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

‘The Spoonful of Milk’ by Marc Chagall, 1912 (via WikiPaintings). ‘. . . It is estimated that about 70% of the world’s antibiotics are fed to farm animals: the precise amount used in agriculture is poorly recorded. But what seems sure — as the number of intensively farmed animals grows — is that their use increases too, … Continue reading →

Article / Event / Film and video / Food Security / Ghana / Human Health / Nutrition / USA / West Africa / Women

Got milk? (or meat or eggs)? The missing ingredients in global nutritional security

Posted on 9 Mar 2013 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Hidden Hunger from Bob Caputo on Vimeo. Watch this handsomely made film (with superb writing as well as videography), produced in 2010 by National Geographic‘s Bob Caputo (run-time: 26 minutes). ‘Malnutrition does not make headlines the way famine does. But it is far more widespread and deadly. Globally, it affects more than a billion people. It is … Continue reading →

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