Category Archives: East Africa

PRIME(ing) resilience among Ethiopia’s pastoral communities
Animal Health / Article / Disease Control / East Africa / Ethiopia / Extension / Livestock / Markets / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Resilience

PRIME(ing) resilience among Ethiopia’s pastoral communities

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PRIME helps farmers with livestock become more resilient to shocks. It also supports better management of existing water resources through more efficient rain harvesting techniques, better early warning systems and information sharing, and improved governance of communal lands and water spots. By improving linkages in the livestock value chain, PRIME also helps ensure profitable outlets for livestock sales when there is not enough feed available to support existing herd sizes. Continue reading →

African camels could hold a key to controlling the spread of the MERS virus
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Camels / CBPP / Diagnostics / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / MERS / Middle East / Zoonotic Diseases

African camels could hold a key to controlling the spread of the MERS virus

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African camels could hold important clues to controlling the potential spread of a respiratory disease transmitted by the animals. For many years African camels have lived with the disease and the risk of it spreading to humans is still low. But more research is necessary to understand the disease better. This is even more important given the confirmation that the chains of transmission of the human Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection originated from contact with camels. Continue reading →

New Tanzania project launched to curb disease transmission from consumption of bushmeat
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / FSZ / ILRI / Southern Africa / Tanzania / Zoonotic Diseases

New Tanzania project launched to curb disease transmission from consumption of bushmeat

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‘Members of communities that live in forests and depend on hunting for survival have been reported to be at risk because bush meat, widely used as their source of food, can be a source of deadly pathogens from wild animals to humans. The Arusha-based, Nelson Mandela University and the US Centre[s] for Disease Control have now entered into a project aimed at curbing the transmission of diseases from wild animals to human beings.’ Continue reading →

Slum farming and superbugs—An ‘Urban Zoo’ science project tracks bacterial routes in complex environments
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / Food Safety / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Zoonotic Diseases

Slum farming and superbugs—An ‘Urban Zoo’ science project tracks bacterial routes in complex environments

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The Urban Zoo project is visiting 99 households across Nairobi, rich and poor, with livestock and without. They’re taking samples from people, their animals, and whatever wildlife they can find nearby (and catch): storks, mice, bats, et cetera. They’re sampling the ground around homes, yards and livestock pens with white paper booties. ‘The aim, says University of Liverpool veterinarian Judy Bettridge, is “to try and understand on a small scale how those bacteria are shared” among each household’s people, livestock and environment. “And then when we scale it up, are the bacteria here being shared with the household that’s 50 meters over there? Or 100 meters over there? So, how far can they actually spread?” . . . Continue reading →

ACGG / Animal Breeding / Animal Production / Animal Products / Chickens / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / Gender / Indigenous Breeds / LIVESTOCKFISH / Nigeria / Nutrition / Research / Tanzania / West Africa / Women

Chickens from the ACGG project to the rescue of African women and families

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Women represent 70% of African smallholder chicken producers. Chickens can be a real way out of difficult livelihoods for these women and the households they attend to. A new project, SciDev.Net recently reported, is aiming at leveraging this potential in novel ways. Continue reading →

Animal Production / East Africa / ILRI / LiveGene / Markets / PIL / PIM / Research / RMG / Small Ruminants / Somalia

Knowledge of livestock grading and market participation among small ruminant producers in northern Somalia

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This article reports on market participation and producers’ knowledge of the indigenous livestock grading and pricing system applied to small ruminant marketing in Somaliland. Results confirmed the importance of small ruminants as sources of income in producer households. Knowledge about the grading system was generally widespread, and this was important for market participation. Factors that … Continue reading →