On better water use and reuse: ‘One Water, One Health’ panel at Singapore International Water Week

ILRI Asia

ILRI’s Hung Nguyen (second from left) participated in the ‘One Water, One Health’ panel at the 2016 Singapore International Water Week (photo credit: ILRI).

A global water management event which aimed at sharing and co-creating innovative water solutions was recently held in Singapore.

The Singapore International Water Week (SIWW), held 10–14 July 2016, brought together several stakeholders in the international water industry to exchange best practices, showcase latest technologies and promote business opportunities.

The ‘One Water, One Health’ workshop at the SIWW aimed to raise the profile of water, sanitation and wastewater management in the context of One Health. The speakers discussed important topics such as the relationship between water-borne diseases and management of livestock waste, and the added value of health and well-being of humans and animals and/or financial savings through closer cooperation of human and animal health.

The speakers also talked about the importance of re-using…

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ILRI sponsors special journal issue on aflatoxins in eastern Africa

Aflatoxin-contaminated groundnut kernels from Mozambique (photo credit: IITA).

A special issue of the African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND) published in July 2016 and sponsored by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) features 12 peer-reviewed scientific articles on aflatoxins in eastern Africa.

The three broad objectives of the special issue are to understand the health consequences of aflatoxins, characterize the extent of the problem and identify key elements to underpin the way forward to mitigation.

The papers, listed below, are all open access and the PDFs are freely available for download at the AJFAND website.

Editorial
Aflatoxins in East Africa: The importance of getting the full picture (http://hdl.handle.net/10568/76526)

Understanding the health impacts

• Assessing the impact of aflatoxin consumption on animal health and productivity (http://hdl.handle.net/10568/76497)
• Aflatoxin exposure among young children in urban low-income areas of Nairobi and association with child growth (http://hdl.handle.net/10568/76498)

Extent and location of the problem

• Aflatoxin B1 occurrence in millet, sorghum and maize from four agro-ecological zones in Kenya (http://hdl.handle.net/10568/76499)
• Prevalence of aflatoxin in feeds and cow milk from five counties in Kenya (http://hdl.handle.net/10568/76501)
• Survey of informal milk retailers in Nairobi, Kenya and prevalence of aflatoxin M1 in marketed milk (http://hdl.handle.net/10568/76502)
• Assessment of pre-harvest aflatoxin and fumonisin contamination of maize in Babati District, Tanzania
• Aflatoxin and fumonisin contamination of marketed maize and maize bran and maize used as animal feed in northern Tanzania
• Mapping aflatoxin risk from milk consumption using biophysical and socio-economic data: A case study of Kenya (http://hdl.handle.net/10568/76503)
• Examining environmental drivers of spatial variability in aflatoxin accumulation in Kenyan maize: Potential utility in risk prediction models

Finding the way forward to mitigation

• Farmer perception of moulds and mycotoxins within the Kenya dairy value chain: A gendered analysis (http://hdl.handle.net/10568/76495)
• A review of agricultural aflatoxin management strategies and emerging innovations in sub-Saharan Africa
• Potential of lactic acid fermentation in reducing aflatoxin B1 in Tanzania maize-based gruel

 

Apocalyptic numbers: Antibiotic resistance as the classic ‘One Health’ (and classic ‘One World’) planetary issue

ILRI news

Depicted in this watercoloured etching, The Ancient of Days, by William Blake,
is Urizen, a  figure that for Blake embodied reason and law.
Urizen’s outstretched hand holds a compass over the darker void below,
representing an event in the Book of Proverbs,
‘when he set a compass upon the face of the earth’
(image via the British Museum).

This is the first in a series of articles being published by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in the lead up to the High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance, which will be held in the margins of the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly, attended by heads of state and government at the UN’s New York City headquarters on 21 Sep 2016. Global leaders at the summit will commit to leading the fight against antimicrobial resistance, including the all-important resistance to antibiotics. Following statements from the World Health Organisation…

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Connecting the dots: Actionable recommendations towards safer pork and leafy vegetables in Vietnam

ILRI Asia

The consultation workshop towards safer pork and vegetables in Vietnam was held on 27 July 2016 in Hanoi (photo credit: ILRI).  

Responsiveness to citizens’ needs and demands is an indicator of good governance and public service. In Vietnam, the government and development partners including international organizations and research centres with expertise in food safety and risk management are responding to a growing public concern over food safety.

This year, the Vietnamese government and partners have been carrying out an assessment of food safety risks in the country. The ‘Food safety risk management in Vietnam: Challenges and opportunities’ study is led by the World Bank with technical support from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and partners. It started in January 2016 and will be completed at the end of August. ILRI has also asked for research support from Risk Taskforce, a project also supported by ILRI.

The study used…

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Aligned to improve nutrition and health: Announcing A4NH 2015 annual report

Herding sheep in Menz, Ethiopia (photo credit: ILRI/Zerihun Sewunet).

With four successful years completed in 2015, the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) is excited to draw on important lessons from past years, continue building a strong evidence base and plan for new projects, expanded research areas and opportunities to scale. The A4NH 2015 annual report, which details our latest progress and plans, is now available.

Read more on the A4NH website.

 

Research on local technologies to improve dairy hygiene in Côte d’Ivoire presented at international conference

Safe Food, Fair Food

Man selling raw milk along the railway tracks in Abobo, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (photo credit: CSRS/ILRI/Sylvie Mireille Kouamé-Sina).

Interventions to improve food safety and nutrition may be some of the best investments for improved health of populations. Ideally, these investments should target multiple disciplines to link health and education to agricultural systems.

Fermentation of dairy products is one such intervention that helps to extend their shelf life and improve microbial safety and nutritive quality. Sylvain Traoré, a postdoctoral scientist at Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques in Côte d’Ivoire, has been continuing with research he started through the Safe Food, Fair Food project on the use of participatory methods to improve the safety of dairy products in informal markets.

Traoré recently carried out a cross-sectional study in Korhogo, northern Côte d’Ivoire to assess local dairy fermentation technologies and map the local dairy supply chain to identify areas where interventions can be…

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Zoonotic diseases featured during UNEP Science-Policy Forum

ILRI veterinary epidemiologist Delia Grace presenting at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Science-Policy Forum that preceded the second session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2), on 20 May 2016 (photo credit: ILRI).

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) held its first global Science-Policy Forum in Nairobi, Kenya on 19-20 May 2016 as part of the overall programme of the second session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) held on 23-27 May 2016.

The forum offered a platform to the science community to engage with policymakers and civil society stakeholders on the science and knowledge needed to support informed decision-making to deliver on the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Delia Grace, a veterinary epidemiologist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), took part in the forum as a panellist for the launch of the UNEP Frontiers 2016 report on emerging issues of environmental concern.

Her presentation on zoonotic and emerging infectious diseases focused on the global burden of zoonotic diseases (diseases that can be transmitted between animals and people), the drivers of disease (among them, land use change, environmental degradation and climate change) and how the multidisciplinary One Health approach can be used to support timely response to the threat of zoonotic diseases.

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Zoonotic diseases are also featured in a chapter in the UNEP Frontiers 2016 report, Zoonoses: Blurred lines of emergent disease and ecosystem health by Delia Grace and ILRI colleagues Bernard Bett, Hu Suk Lee and Susan MacMillan.

 

On more rigorous informed consent in One Health cross-cultural livestock research

ILRI Clippings

ILRI poster prepared by Tarni Cooper (concept and text), James Wakhungu (translation) and Timothy Hall (cartoons and design) as part of a What Is Killing My Cow? project in Tanzania. The poster was one of three communication tools used for seeking informed consent, which were tested and compared for participant comprehension (of project information) and engagement with the consent process.

English translations of Kiswahili captions: Box A: In the first part of the project, farmers said they want to know more about what is making their cattle sick. Box B: Farmer will choose 1–3 sick animals for sampling and the rest of the herd will only be examined at a distance. Box C: We will take milk samples in a clean, safe manner, to minimize risk. Box D: We will take blood samples in a clean, safe manner, to minimize risk. Box E: If necessary, we will restrain cattle on…

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Reflections on food safety and risk perception

Bird’s-eye view of a colourful food market in Western Bengal, where 70% of people depend on agriculture (photo credit: Krishnasis Ghosh/Bioversity International).

In a recent blog post (11 April) published by the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, Delia Grace, a food safety expert at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), discusses food safety and the psychology of risk perception.

She notes that when it comes to food safety, what consumers perceive to be risky and what experts consider to be the most important risks are often not the same.

Citing the example of genetically modified foods, Grace says: “. . . there is remarkable consistency from scientists and expert bodies that genetically modified foods are safe to eat, and yet in many countries, most of the public are skeptical about them.”

The blog post, Healthier food supply: what you worry about and what makes you sick is not the same, acknowledges the complexity of risk perception and the difference in how experts and the general public perceive risks and food safety.

Better evidence can play a part in countering the natural tendency to misperceive risk, she says. An example of such evidence is a new policy brief on food safety, Policy Options for a Healthier Food Supply, which reviews food safety issues that are critical to poor and vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries.

 

New ILRI research brief highlights outcomes of pork safety project in Vietnam

Hmong butchers selling pig meat from the indigenous Hmong black pig, recognizable from its thick layer of fat below the skin, Bac Ha, Lao Cai Province, Vietnam (photo credit: ILRI/Jo Cadilhon).

Scientists working on a project to reduce disease risks and improve food safety in smallholder pig value chains in Vietnam have published a new research brief that highlights the key outcomes of the project in capacity building and transdisciplinary research.

The 5-year project, Reducing disease risks and improving food safety in smallholder pig value chains in Vietnam (PigRisk), was launched in 2012 and is led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in collaboration with the Hanoi School of Public Health and the Vietnam National University of Agriculture.

Among the outputs the project has achieved to date are: maps of value chain actors, assessments of production constraints of pig producers and estimates of health risks along the pork value chain.

In addition, several MSc students have been trained, publications written and presentations made to disseminate the study findings. The research team is currently developing and implementing interventions to positively influence the behaviour of value chain actors and improve food safety.

Download the brief, Changes in researcher capacity in assessing food safety risks and value chains: Insights from PigRisk team