Ivan Morrison, of the University of Edinburgh, formerly of ILRAD, awarded the inaugural Plowright Prize for his lifelong research towards a vaccine for East Coast fever
Africa / Award / Cattle / Disease Control / ECF / Europe / ILRI / Kenya / Pro-Poor Livestock / Research / Staff / UK / Vaccines

Ivan Morrison, of the University of Edinburgh, formerly of ILRAD, awarded the inaugural Plowright Prize for his lifelong research towards a vaccine for East Coast fever

RCVS Knowledge, the charity partner of the UK’s Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, has awarded its inaugural Plowright Prize to Professor William Ivan Morrison of the University of Edinburgh for his research combating the cattle disease East Coast fever. Ivan Morrison started his career at ILRAD, a predecessor of ILRI, where he worked from 1975 to 1990, leading, and building up, ILRAD’s research program on East Coast fever for many of those years. Continue reading

Are COVID-19 and other emerging infectious diseases a message from Mother Nature? —Leading Vietnamese media outlet interviews two of Vietnam’s Ecohealth experts
AHH / Animal Diseases / COVID19 / Environment / Human Health / Interview / Research / Southeast Asia / Vietnam / Zoonotic Diseases

Are COVID-19 and other emerging infectious diseases a message from Mother Nature? —Leading Vietnamese media outlet interviews two of Vietnam’s Ecohealth experts

VTV1, the leading Vietnamese state-run media outlet, interviewed Hung Nguyen, regional representative for East and Southeast Asia and senior scientist at ILRI, and Tuyet Hanh Tran, associate professor at the Hanoi University of Public Health (HUPH) on the connections between ecosystem disruptions and infectious human diseases. Continue reading

‘Tip of the iceberg’: is our destruction of nature responsible for Covid-19?
Africa / Animal Diseases / Article / Communications / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / News clipping / Research / Zoonotic Diseases

‘Tip of the iceberg’: is our destruction of nature responsible for Covid-19?

An article in The Guardian newspaper raises the question of whether human destruction of nature is responsible for mass pandemics like COVID-19. It quotes Eric Fevre, a principal scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute, on the ubiquity of possible germ sources: ‘”There are countless pathogens out there continuing to evolve which at some point … Continue reading

Addressing Africa’s deteriorating food security should be Africa’s top priority—World Bank
Africa / Agriculture / Article / Climate Change / Food Security / Policy / Research

Addressing Africa’s deteriorating food security should be Africa’s top priority—World Bank

World Bank/Brookings report: ‘A key priority for Africa over the next decade should be to address a deteriorating food security situation that is compounded by the effects of climate change, declining agricultural productivity, and rapid population and urbanization growth.’ Continue reading

Thursday Links (November/December 2019)
Advocacy / Aflatoxins / Africa / Agriculture / Article / Cattle / ILRIComms / Livestock matters / Research

Thursday Links (November/December 2019)

A monthly round-up of recent articles, blog postings and tweets about livestock, aid and other topics that may be of interest to International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) staff and partners, compiled by David Aronson. (This is a dual month issue of Thursday Links in anticipation of the December holidays.) This is a good long-form article … Continue reading

Tropical agriculture conference takes unexpected turn: Toward optimism
Agriculture / Australia / Communications / News clipping / Research / Roundup

Tropical agriculture conference takes unexpected turn: Toward optimism

The future of livestock in the developing world was one of the principal themes at the third International Tropical Agriculture (TropAg) Conference held from 11-13 November 2019 in Brisbane, Australia. The conference focused on the challenge of feeding the world’s ever-growing population, which is expected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050. The greatest challenges will … Continue reading