The loss of livestock productivity and mortality caused by the protozoan parasites, Trypanosoma congolense andT. vivax, which is transmitted by tsetse and other biting flies, leads to loss of assets and income to the farmers in Africa. The estimated cost is almost $5 billion a year with over 150 million ruminants at risk in tsetse-infested areas.

Korleri Thakur is a farmer with a jumbo-sized problem. Although her family has four acres of land and should be able to produce enough food to support the household, the local wild elephants often destroy her crops and sometimes even knock down the hut the family lives in

African veterinary officers have agreed that a regional approach is essential in fighting organised fraud and tackling the alarming level of adulterated veterinary medicines being marketed in the continent. This […]

Kimani lives in Arkatan village, a Maasai area, in Tanzania. He was initially suspicious of vaccines and only started administering the immunisation against East Coast fever in 2004.

Malulu Morongo is a village elder and in Mundara village in Longido District, a Maasai area, in Tanzania. He was one of the first Maasai to have his calves vaccinated against East Coast fever and each year he immunises over 200 more, and now has 700 cows.

Marry lives in Mairowa village in Longido District, a Maasai area, in Tanzania and is head of its women’s organisation. She had only 10 cows before she had her herd vaccinated against East Coast fever. She now has 60 cows. East Coast fever has a high mortality rate with cows and the disease is rife in many parts of Tanzania

Mepukori Mebolokini Mollel, a Maasai chief, lives in Mesarani village, a Maasai area, in Tanzania. Before he immunized his livestock against East Coast fever, many of his calves died.

Teresa lives in Nzeluni village near Mwingi in Eastern province in Kenya. Her husband died a few years ago and she was forced to work as a casual labourer. Part of her job was making tea for her employers, “I was so poor that when my employers finished their tea I used to add water to their tea leaves and drink it“.

Elizabeth Wayua Mutoso’s chickens were all killed by Newcastle disease, a contagious disease that usually kills most chickens in a household or village.

Safari Mbui owns a veterinary drug store providing much needed medicines and qualified advice on animal health.