One Health, many tools for forecasting climate-sensitive diseases in Vietnam

ILRI Asia

Nobody likes getting sick. However, climate change, like higher temperatures, heavier rainfall and higher humidity, is already a given, and diseases highly sensitive to such changes would likely increase over time.

Climate change might also make the environment more suitable for diseases to spread, not only among individuals of the same species, but also across species (known as zoonotic diseases). In fact, 70% of the emerging diseases today, like ebola, A(H1N1) (‘swine flu’) and avian influenza (‘bird flu’), have been transferred from animals to humans. Such diseases threaten not only agricultural and food production, but also human lives as well.

A better understanding of how diseases are linked to climate change is needed. “We need more information on climate-sensitive zoonotic diseases to improve healthcare,” said Dr Hu Suk Lee of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

A team of researchers from ILRI and national climate, agricultural and…

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What stops greater consumption of meat, milk and eggs in low-income areas of Nairobi? Price, mostly

ILRI news

Kenyan boy drinking milk (photo credit: ILRI/Dave Elsworth).

A new research paper by scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and partner organizations confirms that milk, meat and eggs are widely consumed by poor people in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi: these animal-source goods make up nearly 40% of the food budget and half of this is spent on dairy products.

Economic analysis revealed a high propensity to consume animal-source foods and elasticities showed that, if their prices could be lowered, consumption of animal-source foods would rocket, benefiting both the nutritional status of poor consumers and the livelihoods of small-scale livestock producers.

Abstract
‘Malnutrition, including undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, is a chronic problem in most developing countries. Animal-source foods (ASFs) provide essential sources of proteins and micronutrients, yet little is known about ASF consumption patterns or household preferences towards animal-source products among low-income populations. This is particularly critical for malnourished children…

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An ‘urban zoo’ project in Kenya is helping unpack the spread of disease in urban environments

ILRI Clippings

A woman sorts through a heap of garbage at the Dandora dumping site among other people, cattle, pigs and storks, in Nairobi (photo credit: Simon Maina / AFP / Getty Images).

Written by Eric Fèvre

‘There are fears that Africa’s next major modern disease crisis will emerge from its cities. Like Ebola, it may well originate from animals. Understanding where it would come from and how this could happen is critical to monitoring and control.

‘Growth and migration are driving huge increases in the number of people living in Africa’s urban zones. More than half of Africa’s people are expected to live in cities by 2030, up from about a third in 2007.

‘The impact of this high rate of urbanisation on issues like planning, economics, food production and human welfare has received considerable attention. But there hasn’t been a substantive effort to address the effects on the transmission of the organisms—pathogens—that…

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ILRI scientist receives honorary professorship at Hanoi University of Public Health

Hung Nguyen-Viet (right) receives his award of honorary professor at the Hanoi University of Public Health. Also pictured are Le Nhan Tuan, Director of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Center of Hanoi (left) and Hoang Van Minh, Vice Rector of Hanoi University of Public Health (centre) (photo credit: ILRI/Hung Nguyen-Viet).

Hung Nguyen-Viet, a senior scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), was awarded an honorary professorship by the Hanoi University of Public Health in recognition of his contribution to teaching and scientific research. The award was presented at a ceremony that took place on 18 Nov 2016 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Hung holds a PhD in Life and Environmental Sciences from Besançon, France. His current research focuses on the link between health and agriculture, food safety, and infectious and zoonotic diseases with an emphasis on the use of risk assessment for food safety management with an integrative approach (One Health and ecohealth). He is also ILRI’s acting regional representative for East and Southeast Asia.

Congratulations, Hung!

 

Global research experts launch Lancet Countdown to track health impacts of climate change

A new international, multidisciplinary research initiative, the Lancet Countdown, was launched yesterday (14 Nov 2016) to track and analyse the impacts of climate change on public health.

The initiative will generate new research evidence to inform decision-making and drive an accelerated policy response to climate change. It will publish its findings annually in The Lancet, the leading global medical journal.

The Lancet Countdown is a collaboration of 48 leading experts from around the world, drawn from 16 academic and research institutions including the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Tsinghua University (China), University College London and the World Health Organization. It is funded by the Wellcome Trust.

You can download the inaugural report, The Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change, for free via The Lancet website.

Among the report’s co-authors are Delia Grace, veterinary epidemiologist and leader of ILRI’s Food Safety and Zoonoses program, and Paula Dominguez-Salas, postdoctoral researcher in nutrition at the Royal Veterinary College on joint appointment at ILRI.

 

Unpacking the tensions between the nutritional and economic goals of pro-poor livestock development

ILRI news

ILRI’s Delia Grace (left) and Shirley Tarawali (right), made two of the three presentations at the second of a four-part series of meetings-cum-webinars on enhancing nutrition through market-led livestock development in developing countries. This series is being organized by Land O’Lakes International Development and ILRI (photo credits: left, ILRI/Susan MacMillan, and right, ILRI).

On 17 Oct 2016, Land O’Lakes International Development and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) hosted a one-day meeting and webinar in Washington, DC, on the challenges of increasing consumption of meat, milk and eggs in poor rural and producer households in low-income countries through improved development of local, and largely informal, livestock markets.

While donors and implementing agencies continue to promote economic gains though market-led livestock programs, less is known about how these programs can maximize the potential for animal-source foods to improve nutrition and health while also contributing to sustainable and nutritious food systems.

Bearing…

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Open-access Knowledge Bank tackles malnutrition

Maarifa - Communications and Knowledge Management

Adequate nutrition, particularly in the first 1,000 days of life, is critical to both physical and mental development and long-term health. Poor access to agricultural and health information has been recognised as a major barrier in the uptake of improved nutritional practices, particularly for women and vulnerable groups in marginalised areas. Developed through the mNutrition Initiative, the Nutrition Knowledge Bank (going live on 25 October) aims to help bridge the gap between information providers and users by providing an open-access store of both nutrition-sensitive agricultural approaches and nutrition-specific health interventions.

Read the full news item

The GSMA mNutrition Initiative is a DFID-funded global project developing agriculture, health and nutrition messages to address knowledge gaps and promote behaviour change. The Global content partner consortium consists of BMJ, CABI, GAIN, ILRI and Oxfam. It partner with local organisations to produce localised content, which is then directly disseminated by service providers through mobile…

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The omnivore’s dilemma: ‘High-steaks’ livestock decisions at next week’s Committee on World Food Security (#CFS43)

ILRI Clippings

Cattle being watered at the Ghibe River in southwestern Ethiopia (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann).

Is it OK to keep eating meat? Or even milk, cheese and eggs?

‘It’s almost guaranteed that this topic will come up whenever dinner table conversation turns to sustainability. Livestock production has been implicated in many of our biggest environmental challenges, from climate change to deforestation to the critical state of many coastal ecosystems.

‘At the same time, animal-sourced foods are excellent sources of protein and other nutrients essential for mental and physical development, especially in young children; not to mention being in high demand among the burgeoning middle classes of emerging economies.

‘So, how do we reconcile our nutritional needs and our taste for animal-based foods with environmental sustainability?

This year’s report by the UN High-level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE), which will be discussed during the 43rd session of…

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Safe Food, Fair Food project research presented at tropical veterinary medicine conference

Safe Food, Fair Food

Serving of fried pork and raw relishes in a pork joint in Kampala, Uganda (photo credit: ILRI/Martin Heilmann).

Research findings from the Safe Food, Fair Food project were presented at the first joint international conference of the Association of Institutions for Tropical Veterinary Medicine (AITVM) and the Society of Tropical Veterinary Medicine (STVM) which was held in Berlin, Germany on 4–8 September 2016.

AITVM is a foundation of 24 veterinary faculties and livestock institutes based in Africa, Asia and Europe with the mandate to improve human health and quality of life by means of increased and safe food production in tropical regions through enhancement of research, training and education in veterinary medicine and livestock production within the framework of sustainable development.

STVM is made up of scientists, veterinarians and students from more than 40 countries with common interests in tropical veterinary medicine. It is a non-profit organization whose purpose is…

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Brucellosis in ruminants in two counties of Yunnan, China and the use of an integrated approach for effective control

Brucellosis (undulant fever) is a zoonotic disease of growing  public health concern in many Asian countries. Challenges in controlling the disease include lack of collaboration between sectors and uncontrolled animal movement.

In China, Yunnan Province is at particular risk as ruminants are increasingly introduced to the province from other parts of the country in response to increasing demand for milk.

To better control the disease, new approaches are needed to support cross-sector collaboration in China’s animal health control system.

The transdisciplinary ‘ecohealth’ approach to prevention and control of zoonoses was used in an International Livestock Research Institute-led project, Ecosystem approaches to the better management of zoonotic emerging infectious diseases in Southeast Asia.

The project’s findings on the ecohealth approach to control of brucellosis in Yunnan were presented at this year’s Tropentag conference which took place in Vienna, Austria on 19-21 September 2016.

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Edited by Tezira Lore