Funding allows surveillance of zoonoses in Kenya
A £3.6 million grant has been awarded to the University of Liverpool to fund an ambitious surveillance programme, which aims to reduce the incidence of disease transmitted between people and livestock in western Kenya.
To meet an increasing demand for milk, eggs and meat, many livestock farmers in Kenya are “intensifying” their subsistence farming methods. However, intensive farming of animals infected with zoonotic diseases has led to outbreaks of bovine tuberculosis, Rift Valley fever, brucellosis and anthrax, which puts the livelihoods of farmers, as well as the health of both humans and livestock at risk.
Researchers will use a mobile data collection system to generate a comprehensive database of the prevalence and economic impact of these diseases, collecting information which can be used to provide evidence for government health policy in the area.
This Liverpool-led study will test 7,500 livestock and 6,000 humans for 14 diseases, covering a population of 1.5 million over its five-year time frame. The programme will leave a trained group of technicians, a comprehensive dataset and a sample selection and framework for national surveillance system, that can be adopted in the future to monitor farms, markets and slaughterhouses.
Eric Fevre, an epidemiologist at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Infection and Global Health, works jointly with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Kenya. He says: “There is a lot of science behind how diseases are controlled and managed, but very little science around how best to undertake surveillance.
"Our strategy is not to develop a completely new system but to strengthen and integrate surveillance work for zoonotic diseases.”
The Zoonoses in Livestock in Kenya (ZooLinK) project is funded through a “Zoonoses in Emerging Livestock Systems” (ZELS) programme. ZooLinK is a joint research initiative of the Department for International Development (DFID) with five other research councils, and is supported through partnerships with UK institutions including the Universities of Edinburgh and Nottingham, and medical research institutions in Kenya.
Photo credit: LCC CRSP/Mark Nanyingi
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