Community based animal health care
Practical Action
• Working with other partners like FARM Africa, GTZ, DANIDA and VET Aid
• Establishing contacts at policy levels.
c) Standardization of training in Community-Based Animal health Care.
At an animal Heath stakeholders meeting held in Meru (Kenya) May 1999, It was reported
that Community-based Animal Health workers (CBAHWs) training manuals although existing
have the following shortcomings;
• Are not available to the public
• There is no common curriculum for CBAHC because of variation in;
a) Selection criteria
b) Training content training needs
c) Duration and frequency of training and recruiting
• The Kenya Veterinary Board has not officially recognized trained CBAHWs as a cadre
of animal health service providers
• There is no agreement on who should examine the CBAHWs to ensure they have
attained a minimum standard.
• The practices in other countries have not been adequately analysed and assessed.
A recommendation was made that all stakeholders who have an interest in sustainable delivery
of community-based animal health services should form a committee to review these issues
and make appropriate recommendations. At the same time a desire was expressed that Kenya
Veterinary Board (KVB) and Department of Veterinary Services should officially recognize the
other cadre involved in the delivery of animal health services which include CBAHWs, KVB to
over see the training of the training of CBAHWs and the process of training CBAHWs be
harmonized by formulating a common manual under the auspices of well trained professional
educators. This would be followed by training a cadre of professionals, who in turn would train
in different locations, using a common minimum curriculum and a varied component, which
would emphasize the local breeds. It is only then that the Kenya Veterinary Board (KVB) will
recognize those who pass.
d) Other challenges affecting the CAHC Systems were:
• Lack of support from the local leaders which affected performance of the CBAHWs
• Some CBAHWs exhaust their veterinary kits supplied by donors and fail to replenish
them
• Areas covered by CBAHWs are so vast that they cannot meet the demand
• The legal aspects limit the amount at type of drugs these people are allowed to use
• Trained nomadic people may migrate to other places, thus reducing the overall
objectives of the concept
• The drop out rate for the educated people is higher than for the un educated
• Record keeping has remained a set back in the day-to-day running of the CBAHC
concept.
References and further reading
Arthritis in Cattle Technical Brief Practical Action
Conservation of Indigenous Livestock Breeds Technical Brief Practical Action
Tsetse Fly Management Technical Brief Practical Action
Animal Healthcare Training J Young & S Jones Practical Action Publishing 1994 ISBN
9781853392450
Community-based Animal Healthcare A Catley et al Practical Action Publishing 2002 ISBN
9781853394850
Ethnoveterinary Medicine M Martin Practical Action Publishing 2001 ISBN 9781853395222
Sharing the Load L van Dijk et al Practical Action Publishing 2011 ISBN 9781853397196
Village Animal Healthcare B Grandin Practical Action Publishing 1991 ISBN
9781853390920
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