To help increase awareness of the safe and effective one-shot-for-life East Coast fever (ECF) vaccine, GALVmed has been working with the producers of the Agricultural TV series, Shamba Shape to help get the word out to farmers that the vaccine is available in Kenya now to protect cattle against ECF.
By partnering with official vaccine distributors in Kenya such as Sidai Africa Limited and Vetaid and by featuring ECF on Shamba Shape Up, word about this effective vaccine is spreading.
Produced by Nairobi-based production compamy, Mediae, Shamba Shape Up and its team were in Eldoret, Kenya to visit livestock keeper Leah, whose cows were in serious trouble. She recognised the symptoms that the Sidai expert read out, yet had no idea that they were linked to ECF – a common situation. Leah had in fact lost cows to ECF before and was keen to understand how to recognise the disease and how to prevent it happening again.
While the Shamba Shape Up team meet Leah and her cows, presenters Tonny and Naomi and Sidai expert Dr. Odede discuss with her the importance of waiting for the cows to ‘go through the sickness stage’ as the antibiotic treatment takes affect and the cow comes out the other side, vaccinated and healthy.
The episode involving the visit to Leah’s farm will be shown on the weekend of the 26th April, both in English and Swahili. To view the episode online, please go to the Shamba Shape Up website here. If you are interested in learning more about the GALVmed and Shamba Shape Up initiative, or about the disease ECF, please SMS your name, address & GALVMED, ECF to 30606 (Kenya only) and Mediae will send you a free informational leaflet in the post. If you are outside Kenya but would still like to get a leaflet, please look online at the specific episode where the leaflet will be uploaded.