A smartphone app for surveillance and reporting of livestock diseases has greatly improved the process of collecting and analysing disease surveillance data in northern Kenya, where livestock keeping is a key source of income and livelihood. The LivHealth e-surveillance app has facilitated the recording of symptoms of livestock diseases by community disease reporters. It has also enabled quick and accurate
A new research paper published in The Lancet (Feb 2023) has examined the global distribution of existing One Health Networks and found that investment in these networks has not been equitably distributed. A One Health approach to disease prevention and control recognizes the close interaction between people, animals and their shared environment. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen increased focus on the
Favourable policies that promote the availability and affordability of milk sold by informal markets can help to increase milk consumption and boost the nutrition of children in low-income households in Kenya, a new study reports. The study, published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems (Feb 2023), identified the patterns of household milk purchase and consumption in peri-urban low-income households in
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Board of Trustees and CGIAR have appointed Professor Appolinaire Djikeng as Director General of ILRI and CGIAR Senior Director of Livestock-Based Systems. Professor Djikeng is a globally-recognized expert in developing multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, and global research and development programs focused on agricultural development, livestock development, and human health. He will take over the role from
Are we investing enough to end hunger by 2030, the date set for its termination by the UN’s Agenda for Sustainable Development? This was the central question in a round table discussion on Financial Flows in the Agrifood Sector in the Global South, a joint production of CGIAR and The Economist held on December 6, 2022, in Nairobi, Kenya. Although
Every director general knows, at the time they are appointed, exactly when they’re supposed to leave because their appointment letter tells them so, says Jimmy Smith, who has been the director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) for the past 11 years. But “I didn’t realise how difficult it would be to say goodbye to ILRI and the
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, to end hunger by 2030, has become increasingly out of reach as COVID-19 and the escalating climate crisis pushed an additional 150 million people into hunger in 2021. Despite this ambitious goal, agricultural research and innovation funding has been declining globally. An additional $14 billion will need to be provided by international
Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) disease is a major concern for the livestock sector in Mali. Its occurrence can have severe consequences on the large part of the population who depend on livestock as a major source of income, especially women and small-scale farmers in rural areas. Since 2016, a new technology to produce a thermotolerant vaccine has been transferred