VETAID runs first ever free vaccination campaign in Molo District in Kenya
19 August 2008

In July 2008, VETAID provided vaccinations and treatment for nearly 16,000 animals in Kenya’s Rift Valley Province. The ‘Vaccinating for Peace’ project took place in Kuresoi and Keringet divisions of Molo District.

Local people in Molo had never before been provided with free vaccinations and treatment for their animals. Although a number of charitable organisations work in this area, their focus is on providing food and items like shelter materials. VETAID’s work was therefore the first of its kind in the area.

In Kuresoi and Keringet, those who fled their homes following the post-election violence have now returned or have moved to subsidiary camps nearer their farm land, bringing their animals with them. Most local families lost animals during the conflict and their remaining animals are in poor physical condition and cases of animal diseases have increased.

This means that the affected families have little or no protein in their diets as they cannot get milk and meat from the animals. They are also unable to buy food and other essential items as they cannot earn money through the sale of their livestock.

Cramped conditions in makeshift camps have led to the rapid spread of animal diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease and Lumpy Skin Disease. The lack of routine animal management practices such as de-worming has also caused outbreaks of diseases like East Coast Fever and helminthosis.

In the course of two weeks in July, VETAID, in collaboration with government veterinary teams, provided vaccination, treatment and de-worming of 15,687 animals. This will help improve the body condition of the animals and enable them to recover from the negligence experienced during the post-election crisis.

VETAID’s Dr Victoria Kyallo explains the difference that this work can make: “In Kuresoi, I met Mr John Rotich who has 15 cows, 10 sheep and 2 dogs. Before this project, his animals had deteriorated in health and were doing poorly because veterinary services are lacking in that area.

But with our help, his animals - especially the sheep and cattle - will definitely have improved body condition and the dogs will have protection against rabies which has been a threat in that area.”

Some difficulties were encountered when unexpected heavy rains in the area made roads impassable and it became impossible to reach some of the areas where we had planned to work. The rains also meant that fewer animals were brought for treatment as animal herders could not make the journey to the sites we were working from.

Our work over the two weeks directly benefited over 5,700 people in the local area. By providing clinical treatment and vaccination, VETAID helped the affected families to preserve and improve the health of their herds. This means that these livestock keepers will have a more secure source of food and income over the coming months.

The disease control project was also intended to act as a peace building initiative, bringing together different groups within the community that had been in conflict during the violence.

Dr Kyallo pointed out that: “During the vaccination exercise, people who had previously been in conflict with each other were interacting well and helping each other with the animals. This also helped ease the tension between members of the different communities. It is important for us to work with the government to help bring these communities back together.”

ENDS

For more information or to arrange an interview with members of the VETAID team who were involved in the project, please contact Gail Wilson on gail@vetaid.org or +44 (0) 131 445 6231.

Notes for editors:

1. The most common diseases treated among the cattle were skin conditions, East Coat Fever, pneumonia, eye infections, wounds and diarrhoea.

2. The table below gives an overview of number of animals vaccinated and treated:

Divisions	Cattle	Sheep and goats	Dogs	Donkeys
Keringet	4195	1485	349	36
Kuresoi	5805	2785	651	241
Total	10140	4270	1000	277

3. During the post-election violence in Kenya at the beginning of 2008, an estimated 1,500 people died and 600,000 fled their homes and were forced to abandon or sell their animals in the process. Kenya’s Rift Valley Province was one of the worst-affected areas.