A study published in the April 2023 issue of Current Developments in Nutrition has put forth new empirical evidence on the effect of COVID-19 pandemic-related changes in behaviour and government restrictions in Kenya on dairy supply chains and urban and peri-urban household food access.
The study focused on milk sold in informal markets and examined changes in milk sales, consumption of dairy products, and food insecurity among low-income households in urban and peri-urban Nairobi following the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya in March 2020.
The study was conducted by scientists affiliated to the International Food Policy Research Institute, the International Livestock Research Institute and the University of Greenwich.
The researchers started by collecting baseline data on milk sales and consumption from informal milk vendors and their customers in late 2019.
Later, two follow-up telephone surveys were conducted among the same milk vendors and customers in July and September–October 2020, respectively.
The first survey found that the volume of milk sold by the vendors had dropped by 30% compared to the baseline level and the volume of informally sold milk consumed by households had reduced by 23%.
After the second survey, the volumes of milk sold and consumed were found to have increased but were lower than the volumes observed a year earlier in the same season.
The study also found that the rate of food insecurity increased by 16 and 11 percentage points in the first and second surveys, respectively, compared to the baseline.
These findings suggest that the timing of the COVID-19 pandemic and the related government-instituted restrictions on movement to control the spread of the disease were associated with a decrease in the supply and consumption of milk from informal markets in Nairobi, and a decrease in the food security of peri-urban consumers.
The authors of the study therefore recommend that in times of crisis, short-term relief efforts and longer-term social protection policies be implemented to ensure that low-income households can maintain their food purchasing power and the quality of their diets.
“Such policies would also have positive effects on food vendors, as the demand for highly nutritious products would be maintained,” they add.
Additionally, movement restrictions to control the spread of COVID-19 should be designed to minimize disruptions to food supply chains, in particular of fresh foods, which are more vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.
This will ensure an adequate supply of nutritious products in the market and protect the incomes of people who depend on informal markets for their livelihoods.
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 Dagoretti, Nairobi, with emphasis on young children and milk bought from informal markets.
The study also sought to estimate the key determinants of dairy purchase and consumption patterns to identify areas of leverage to increase household milk consumption.
Milk plays an important role in the growth and development of children. In Kenya, it is one of the most widely produced and consumed animal food products but often consumed in small amounts among children of low-income families.
The study found that 98% of the sampled households purchased unprocessed fresh milk at least once during the seven days prior to the survey, while only 17% bought packaged pasteurised milk.
The amount of unpackaged milk purchased by households was positively and significantly related to household income, the number of children below the age of four years, and the budget for animal food products.
Analysis of milk consumption patterns by children under four years of age revealed that milk and dairy products were more commonly consumed as part of dishes than as individual products.
Although informal markets were found to play a key role in meeting the milk needs of children, consumption of milk was below recommended levels.
Because of the association of income and milk intake, the authors of the study call for the government to support the dairy sector with policies that promote the availability and affordability of milk.
This is especially so for the informal dairy sector that the majority of Kenyan low-income families rely on to meet their dietary and nutritional needs.
Informal milk trading in peri-urban Nairobi plays a key role in supporting both livelihoods and nutrition, particularly among poor households. Gender dynamics affect who is involved in milk trading and who benefits from it.
To better understand gendered constraints and opportunities in informal, peri-urban dairy marketing, scientists from the International Livestock Research Institute and the International Food Policy Research Institute conducted a qualitative study in 2017 with 45 men and 50 women milk traders in Dagoretti, a peri-urban area in Nairobi, Kenya. The study is published in Gender, Technology and Development (27 Jun 2022).
The findings show that milk trading is more lucrative for older men than for women and younger men among the respondents. The study delves into the reasons behind the observed differences in the experiences of women and men as informal milk traders. The study also discusses the implications of the findings for interventions aimed at enhancing the sustainability and equity of the dairy sector.
Effective communication and constructive dialogue on inclusive ways forward between policy-makers and informal milk vendors can help to bridge the gap between policy and reality in Kenya’s informal milk sector, according to a new research study published in Development Policy Review (May 2022).
Around 80% of milk in Kenya is sold informally, providing livelihoods and contributing to the food security and nutrition of low-income consumers. Government policy, however, is focused on formalization—primarily through licensing and pasteurization—with enforcement via fines, confiscation of milk or closing the premises of informal actors.
The study, which was carried out by researchers from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), sought to better understand if, and why, Kenya’s informal milk sector and regulatory system are disconnected from one another and how the policy–reality gap might be better bridged.
To understand the nature and performance of Kenya’s informal milk markets and their governance, the authors used surveys with informal market players and key informant interviews. Fieldwork was carried out in Nairobi in late 2018.
The study found that milk safety and quality matters to all actors in informal milk value chains. The trust-based system used is effective in moderating behaviour and assessing and prioritizing quality and safety.
However, government policy was found not to accomplish the stated goal of formalization, with low levels of licensing among informal actors. Pasteurization was not rewarded in the market and there was some evidence of sub-optimal pasteurization processes being undertaken to satisfy regulators.
These findings point to a gap between the reality of Kenya’s informal milk sector and its policy and regulatory system.
This gap is seen in the form of adversarial relationships between regulators and informal actors, and unnecessary transaction costs, missing opportunities for enhancing livelihoods, food safety, and food security.
The authors of the study therefore recommend that new approaches build on and consider existing approaches taken by actors in informal food markets to ensure food safety and quality.
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need to strengthen national surveillance systems to protect a globally connected world.
In low-income and middle-income countries, zoonotic disease surveillance has advanced considerably in the past two decades. However, surveillance efforts often prioritize urban and adjacent rural communities.
Communities in remote rural areas have had far less support despite having routine exposure to zoonotic diseases due to frequent contact with domestic and wild animals, and restricted access to health care. Limited disease surveillance in remote rural areas is a crucial gap in global health security.
Although this point has been made in the past, practical solutions on how to implement surveillance efficiently in these resource-limited and logistically challenging settings have yet to be discussed.
A new paper in Lancet Global Health (Apr 2022) highlights why investing in disease surveillance in remote rural areas of low-income and middle-income countries will benefit the global community and review current approaches.
Using semi-arid regions in Kenya as a case study, the authors’ viewpoint provides a practical approach by which surveillance in remote rural areas can be strengthened and integrated into existing systems.
The viewpoint represents a transition from simply highlighting the need for a more holistic approach to disease surveillance to a solid plan for how this outcome might be achieved.
The Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit 2021 takes place on 7–8 December 2021. The summit comes at a critical time, midway through the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, with only five years left to achieve the World Health Assembly targets on maternal, infant and young child nutrition, and 10 years to reach the Sustainable Development Goals.
Ahead of the summit, on 2 December 2021, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) hosted a side event on the role of informal markets within future food systems.
The purpose of the side event was to derive a set of principles to help national policymakers develop risk-based policies that reward positive food safety as opposed to criminalization and marginalization. Such policies will improve the governance, operations and future of informal markets to ensure their continued contribution to livelihoods, health and nutrition.
A panel discussion featured the following speakers:
Delia Grace, professor of food safety systems, Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich and joint appointed scientist, ILRI
Jane Battersby, senior lecturer, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town
Vivian Maduekeh, managing principal, Food Health Systems Advisory
Emma Blackmore, research associate, IIED
Stella Nordhagen, senior technical specialist, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition
Utpal Kumar Sharma, director, Dairy Development Department, Government of Assam, India
The world’s largest publicly-funded agricultural research partnership, CGIAR, is currently developing a series of initiatives to implement its 2030 research and innovation strategy that was launched in early 2021.
The research initiatives are designed to create lasting impact in five key areas:
nutrition, health and food security;
poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs;
gender equality, youth and social inclusion;
climate adaptation and mitigation; and
environmental health and biodiversity.
One of these research initiatives, Protecting human health through a One Health approach, aims to improve the prevention and control of antimicrobial resistance, foodborne diseases and zoonoses in seven target countries: Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Uganda and Vietnam.
The development of the One Health initiative is being led by a team of scientists from four CGIAR research centres — the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and WorldFish — in collaboration with external research partners from Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire, EcoHealth Alliance and the University of Liverpool.
To ensure alignment of the proposed initiative with national priorities, the team convened a series of online consultative meetings with research collaborators to gain insights on the main One Health priorities, challenges, interventions and partner organizations in the respective countries.
The Kenya meeting, hosted by ILRI, took place on Wednesday 28 July 2021, bringing together some 30 participants from government ministries, universities as well as national and international research organizations.
Dieter Schillinger, ILRI’s deputy director general for biosciences research and development, opened the meeting with a word of welcome and an overview of CGIAR’s 2030 research and innovation strategy that will guide the implementation of the 33 new research initiatives, including that on One Health—the focus of the online consultation.
He mentioned that the development of the One Health research initiative is a collaborative process and ILRI is working closely with other CGIAR research centres as well as external partners from research and academia, including those represented at the meeting. He therefore welcomed feedback and suggestions from the participants to ensure the research of the One Health initiative is relevant and impactful.
Hung Nguyen, co-leader of ILRI’s Animal and Human Health program, followed with an overview of the rationale of the One Health initiative, citing the need for a One Health approach to tackle the complexity of the global public health challenges posed by the rising incidence of antimicrobial resistance, foodborne diseases and zoonoses.
He then outlined the three main objectives of the One Health initiative, namely, to generate evidence for decision-making; evaluate impacts of One Health approaches; and scale up innovations into national policies and programs.
He further highlighted the initiative’s Theory of Change, explaining how the research outputs are expected to lead to specific development outcomes and impact by 2030, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The team estimates that between 4 million and 41 million cases of disease will be averted annually through the initiative’s efforts.
The initiative’s research activities will take place through five work packages:
zoonoses;
food safety;
antimicrobial resistance;
environment (water and wildlife interfaces); and
economics, governance and behaviour.
The work package leaders presented briefly on the goals of their respective work packages, giving examples of planned innovations under each.
Hung Nguyen explained that the food safety work package aims to reduce the burden of foodborne disease in traditional (informal) food value chains, with a focus on animal-source foods and other perishables such as fruits and vegetables. Planned innovations include training and certification of food handlers and traders, promotion of consumer demand for safe food, and behavioural nudges to encourage safe food handling practices.
Bernard Bett, ILRI senior scientist and head of the ILRI-hosted One Health Centre in Africa, outlined the two main objectives of the zoonoses work package: pre-empting the spread of zoonoses at the wildlife–livestock interface and reducing the incidence of zoonotic pathogens associated with poverty. Among other innovations, the work package plans to map the risk of key endemic zoonoses and develop diagnostic kits for surveillance of zoonoses.
Arshnee Moodley, who heads the ILRI-hosted CGIAR Antimicrobial Resistance Hub, said that the antimicrobial resistance work package will focus on reducing the burden of antimicrobial resistance by promoting the prudent use of antimicrobials in crop, fish and livestock production systems. In this regard, surveillance of antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance in animals and animal-source foods is important. Additionally, there is a need to generate and communicate evidence on the costs and benefits of rational use of antimicrobials to support uptake of interventions by farmers and policymakers.
In his overview of the environment work package, Javier Mateo-Sagasta, senior researcher at IWMI, noted that water is a key connector between people, livestock and ecosystems and so the focus will be on improving land use and water management to reduce health risks such as antimicrobial residues and zoonotic pathogens. Approaches will include recovery and reuse of animal waste to prevent water pollution and promotion of good practices to ensure the safe use of marginal quality water.
Vivian Hoffmann, senior research fellow at IFPRI, explained that the goal of the economics, governance and behaviour work package is to understand the drivers of people’s behaviour within food systems and the impact of policies and governance approaches on this behaviour. An example of an innovation under this work package is a performance management system for government officials responsible for implementing surveillance and enforcing regulations on antimicrobial use or food safety. Another innovation is a system to ensure inclusion of small-scale farmers, traders, food vendors and vulnerable groups so that they benefit from One Health outcomes.
During parallel group discussions on the zoonoses, food safety and antimicrobial resistance work packages, the participants gave feedback on the main One Health challenges, priority interventions, actions to ensure inclusion and partner institutions in Kenya.
With regard to control of zoonoses, among the key challenges identified were cross-sectoral coordination among government bodies and lack of adequate funding. Capacity development was noted as an area that needs to be strengthened at all levels. There is also a need to better understand the risks of zoonoses spillover from wildlife to livestock in boundary areas.
The main food safety challenges identified included aflatoxins, chemical contamination and inadequate capacity for effective food inspection. Capacity development was identified as a priority food safety intervention, in addition to strengthening of food safety legal frameworks at national and county levels, increasing consumer awareness and improving water quality and infrastructure.
The discussion on antimicrobial resistance identified the need for evidence on the costs and benefits of reducing antimicrobial use in order to get buy-in from policymakers. Regulation of veterinary drugs is another challenge, as is the enforcement of proper use of antimicrobials. There is a need for consumer education and strengthening of extension and veterinary services.
The use of participatory approaches and tailoring of communication to suit specific target audiences were suggested as some of the ways of ensuring inclusion of small-scale farmers, traders, vendors, women and youth at all levels of the value chain.
The identified partner groups to work with included government ministries of agriculture, health and environment (at national and county levels); national and international research organizations; universities; bureau of standards; farmer/producer groups; women’s groups; consumer organizations and civil-society organizations.
As the meeting ended, Sam Kariuki, acting director general of the Kenya Medical Research Institute, summed up the discussions as having been very engaging and fruitful. He urged the team to focus on practical approaches and leverage on low-cost, effective technologies to ensure that the planned interventions achieve positive impact among farmers on the ground.
‘Think big, but act local,’ he advised.
In his closing remarks, Dieter Schillinger thanked the participants for their contributions and said that the team would build on the ideas discussed and use them to fine-tune the development of the research initiative. He further assured the participants of CGIAR’s continued collaboration with and support of One Health partners in Kenya towards improved human, animal and environment health.
Once approved, the CGIAR One Health initiative will start in January 2022 and run for an initial three years.
ILRI, IFPRI, IWMI and WorldFish. 2021. Kenya stakeholder consultation on a proposed CGIAR One Health initiative. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/114650
There’s been widespread concern in Kenya over the shrinking of green spaces in Nairobi, the capital city. Most recently, there was uproar over the construction of a raised highway. This resulted in the felling of hundreds of trees, though protests managed to save the life of one 100-year-old fig tree.
It was also proposed that part of the highway run through Uhuru park – one of the city’s few recreational parks. Protests successfully diverted the highway to the park’s outskirts, but development still threatens the city’s few undeveloped spaces.
To give an idea of how much green space has already been lost, between 1976 and 2000, Nairobi’s forest cover went from 14% to 3%. Bushland cover, over the same period, was also reduced from 22% to 13%.
This will have an impact on the city’s wildlife and livestock. Nairobi, like other urban environments in the tropics, has an ecosystem that includes wildlife – such as birds, rodents, primates – and livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep and pigs. As green spaces are lost, native wildlife and bird species can dwindle and non-native species proliferate.
But very few studies explore how development affects wildlife and livestock in tropical cities. Recognising this gap, we explored the impact of a growing and changing urban environment on the wildlife and livestock that live with people in Nairobi from 2013 to 2018.
We found that, as land use in Nairobi transformed, there have been significant changes.
Competition between invasive and endemic species has grown, to the detriment of native biodiversity. Species – many of which play important roles in ecosystems such as fruit bats, primates and pollinators – are lost. And as the ecological landscape becomes less diverse, wildlife species that co-exist with humans – such as rats, scavenging and seed-eating birds (collectively known as synanthropes) – thrive, particularly in the poorer, most densely populated areas of Nairobi.
This is troubling because evidence suggests that synanthropes host more germs and could pass diseases on to people and make them sick. These are called “zoonotic diseases” and range from minor short-term illness to major life-changing illness and even death.
We could not assess the risk posed by zoonoses in Nairobi in our study. What we do know is that the city (and likely most other biodiverse, tropical cities) harbours all the ingredients for zoonotic spillover to occur between animals and people, particularly in the most densely populated areas.
Urban development policymakers must recognise that by shrinking green spaces, they increase the likelihood that people will catch zoonotic diseases. This is because species such as rodents proliferate.
Which species dominate, and where
We studied 99 household compounds – people’s houses and private land – across the city. These were selected to represent the different ways in which people interact with livestock and wildlife across the city. Households were stratified by people’s wealth, the types of livestock they kept and the ecological habitats in which they live.
Our data show that synanthropic species – like rats and insectivorous bats – dominate lower income, densely populated areas of the city. Here the synanthropes live in close quarters with poultry, pigs and small ruminants, such as goats and sheep.
We found that the decline in biodiversity – and subsequent colonisation by synanthropes – was driven by urban development. Trees and other forms of vegetation were replaced by man-made structures, removing the natural resources that most wildlife require to survive. Meanwhile, the resources (such as waste) on which synanthropes thrive increased.
As we argue in our paper, this kind of restructuring has important implications for the emergence of novel diseases at urban interfaces, which is why we used our research results to generate a set of testable hypotheses that explore the influence of urban change on microbial communities.
By testing the hypotheses we provide insights into how rapid urbanisation can generate interfaces for pathogen emergence, which should be targeted for surveillance.
Research done elsewhere shows that synanthropes – which thrive in disturbed environments with lower biodiversity – host more pathogens. And synanthropes seek resources provided by humans and their livestock, such as waste, which brings them into closer contact and increases opportunities for pathogens to cross between them.
For instance, our work in Nairobi shows that, as densities of humans and livestock increase, there is more sharing of antimicrobial resistance with wild birds.
Policy recommendations
Our findings have important implications for the public health and the sustainable planning and management of cities, particularly rapidly developing, biodiverse cities.
The high levels of competent disease carriers near humans is a huge risk to public health. The current response to COVID-19 has shown that the ability to limit the spread of a disease depends upon good public health infrastructure. Developing this infrastructure, while more studies are conducted to assess the risk of zoonotic disease transmission, is crucial.
Mitigating steps can be taken. One would be to maintain areas of forests, grasslands and clean waterways throughout the city. This would preserve and increase the wildlife biodiversity that competes with synanthropes, while also improving biosecurity within households, which could help moderate the presence of synanthropic species in urban centres.
It is, however, worth noting that some synanthropes, like insectivorous bats, help to control mosquito populations and agricultural pests in heavily urbanised environments. Eradicating them would not be advisable. Managing people’s interactions with synanthropes through smart urban planning – for example by removing resources on which synanthropes rely such as manure and rubbish from households – is best.
Our findings also raise important concerns about the social equality of urban development. The benefits of urban biodiversity and risks posed by human exposure to animal-borne diseases are not equally distributed. Currently equitable access to green spaces is restricted in many cities due to socioeconomic barriers, such as land ownership, proximity or lack of transportation. Reconfiguring the distribution of green space from the peri-urban fringe of the city to densely populated areas would build a more equitable society, allowing more city dwellers to have access to recreational space.
David Aronson, Senior Communications Advisor with ILRI, and Timothy Offei-Addo, a Princeton-in-Africa fellow with ILRI, contributed to the writing of this article.
Eric Fèvre, Professor of Veterinary Infectious Diseases, University of Liverpool and International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya, University of Liverpool and James Hassell, Wildlife Veterinarian with Smithsonian’s Global Health Program, and adjunct Assistant Professor, Yale University
Developing risk maps for endemic livestock diseases is important for effective disease prevention and control, particularly in resource-limited countries.
For endemic and easily diagnosed diseases such as anthrax, a useful approach involves analysis and mapping of historical data to identify disease hotspots and define risk factors of its occurrence.
A new paper published in BMC Infectious Diseases (Feb 2021) presents the results of risk mapping of the 666 livestock anthrax events that occurred in Kenya between 1957 and 2017.
The mapping exercise found that there were about 10 anthrax events in Kenya annually, with the number increasing to as many as 50 events annually by 2005.
Mapping also revealed spatial clustering of the disease events in certain sub-counties; 12% of sub-counties were responsible for over 30% of anthrax events while 36% of sub-counties did not report any incidents of anthrax over the 60-year period under study.
Additionally, there was significantly greater risk of anthrax occurring in agro-alpine high- and medium-potential agro-ecological zones than in the arid and semi-arid regions of the country.
Cattle were over 10 times more likely to be infected by Bacillus anthracis (the bacterium that causes anthrax) than sheep, goats or camels.
There was lower risk of anthrax in August and December, months that follow the long and short rain periods, respectively.
By enabling analysis of the trends and patterns of occurrence of livestock anthrax across different regions over the years, the risk maps will be a useful tool for livestock health officials to identify and characterize Kenya’s anthrax hotspots, leading to better targeting of disease management interventions.
A new study published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science (February 2021) has documented the governance structure of the Nairobi pork value chain and the challenges faced by traders and how these impact on food safety.
The pork food system in Nairobi is a growing livestock sub-sector which serves as a source of food and livelihood to the city’s inhabitants. To better understand how this food system works, the study mapped the key pork value chains, assessed their governance and operational challenges and analysed the potential impacts on food safety management.
A mixed-method approach was used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data on animal movements, product flows, stakeholder interactions, perceptions on system governance, operational challenges faced, business operations and market share.
A thematic analysis was also carried out to identify the themes that provide understanding on governance, challenges and food safety practices in the pork system.
The predominant pork value chains identified were the ‘large integrated company’ profile which accounted for 83.6% of marketed pork and the privately owned, small-scale local independent abattoirs accounting for 16.4%.
The study documented a number of challenges associated with governance of the pork value chains including inadequate enforcement of existing regulation, dominance of pig traders and lack of association at all nodes of the system.
The traders themselves were also beset by several challenges that could have a bearing on food safety management; these included inadequate slaughter facilities, lack of capital for upscaling, lack of training on slaughterhouse hygiene and lack of knowledge on how to manage pig diseases.
These findings provide useful insights into the structure of the pork system supplying the city of Nairobi. Policymakers and food safety researchers can use this framework to investigate and further develop the pork industry. The framework can also be used to develop appropriate programs for food safety and control of pig diseases.
The study is an output of a collaborative project on the epidemiology, ecology and socio-economics of disease emergence in Nairobi that was carried out by scientists from the International Livestock Research Institute, the Kenya Directorate of Veterinary Services, Royal College London, the University of Liverpool and the University of Nairobi.
In addition to organizations recognized for specific projects and outputs, we thank all donors which globally supported the work of ILRI and its partners through their contributions to the CGIAR system
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