PENAPH holds successful first technical workshop in Thailand

The Participatory Epidemiology Network for Animal and Public Health (PENAPH) first technical workshop was held on Dec 11-13, 2012 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The committee accepted 34 abstracts out of 55 submissions as oral presentations and an additional 13 were accepted as posters.  The workshop brought together trainers, practitioners and others interested in Participatory Epidemiology (PE) … Continue reading »

Experts discuss strategies for infectious disease pathogen discovery

Scientists conducting research in the area of pathogen discovery, especially virus discovery met for a 4 day workshop on 5-8 Nov 2012. Held at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Nairobi, the aim of the workshop was to enable ILRI to make informed decisions about which technologies to be investing in to support the pathogen … Continue reading »

Republic of Kenya Zoonotic Disease Unit (ZDU) launched

The Kenyan ministries of livestock and development and public health and sanitation yesterday, 3 October 2012 officially launched the Zoonotic Disease Unit (ZDU) in Nairobi. ‘The ZDU is a One Health office in Kenya that was formed to address the gap that exists between animal and human health sectors in terms of prevention and control … Continue reading »

A Day in the Life of the PAZ Project: Fascioliasis in Western Kenya

‘A Day in the Life of the People, Animals and their Zoonoses (PAZ) Project’, is series of blog articles by several members of ILRI staff working on the PAZ project based in Busia. These staff members, share their first hand experiences, challenges, and highlights of the project, in this post George Omondi Acharry, a laboratory … Continue reading »

PENAPH first technical workshop for trainers, practitioners and stakeholders in Participatory Epidemiology (PE) and its applications in animal health, one health and ecohealth

PENAPH will be holding a technical workshop to bring together trainers, practitioners and others interested in Participatory Epidemiology (PE) and its applications in animal health, one health and ecohealth. The organization of the workshop is supported by a grant to the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) from the Rockefeller Foundation through the Empowering National and … Continue reading »

A Day in the Life of the PAZ Project: Tapeworm [taeniasis] infestation in Busia

‘A Day in the Life of the People, Animals and their Zoonoses (PAZ) Project’, is series of blog articles by several members of ILRI staff working on the PAZ project based in Busia. These staff members, share their first hand experiences, challenges, and highlights of the project, in this post Lorren Alumasa, a clinical technician … Continue reading »

A Day in the Life of the PAZ Project: Laboratory diagnostic of diseases hosted by animals in the PAZ project area

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), jointly with the University of Edinburgh (UK) and the Kenya Medical Research Institute, with additional support from the Kenyan Department of Veterinary Services, operates a laboratory in the town of Busia, in Western Kenya.  It is here that the People, Animals and their Zoonoses (PAZ) project operates a joint … Continue reading »

The (neglected) ties binding human and animal health

“Animal diseases make up 60 per cent of all human pathogens and have a significant impact on poverty. Yet for many years, the worst diseases were sorely neglected by the international community. Eric Fevre describes how this turned around, and what researchers are now doing to tackle it. ‘In the far west of rural Kenya, … Continue reading »

A Day in the Life of the PAZ Project: About the People, Animals and their Zoonoses Project

Western Kenya is a part of the world with high human and livestock population densities, representative more largely of the whole Lake Victoria Crescent ecosystem.  This is a rural area (around 95% of households depend on agriculture as their primary source of livelihoods) where farmers are mixed crop-livestock small-holders – families generally grow crops and … Continue reading »

Why animals matter to human health and nutrition

Human, livestock and environmental health are inextricably linked, Sixty-one per cent of all diseases are ‘zoonotic’ –that is, transmissible between animals and humans. Continue reading »

Improving lives and livelihoods through improved livestock health

While vaccines remain the most cost-effective medical and veterinary interventions for controlling disease, opportunities also exist to improve animal health by improving existing veterinary services and access by poor livestock keepers to those services Continue reading »