Notes to Broadcasters on para-vets:
Date Posted: March 10th, 2008
The training and use of community animal health workers, or para-vets, is increasingly seen as a solution for communities where veterinary services are limited. FARM Africa’s Dr. Jaribu Sultan explains that the Tanzanian government was initially reluctant to sanction the practice, but came to accept the value of para-vets in treating and preventing common animal diseases. Dr. Sultan also notes that para-vets trained by FARM Africa are established members of their communities, selected through community meetings, and are therefore trusted by community members to provide advice and use quality drugs.
Para-veterinary practitioners often use traditional or local animal care methods to complement their medical training. In FARM Africa’s programming, para-vet candidates must come from families that rear livestock. Dr. Sultan says this ensures that the para-vets bring indigenous knowledge to their practice.
For more information on the use of para-vets, you may wish to review some of the following materials:
-FARM Africa’s description of its programming:
http://www.farmafrica.org.uk/programmes.cfm
-A BBC news story from 2003 describing how para-vets helped to preserve the livelihoods of the Turkana people in Kenya, by vaccinating their cattle against rinderpest:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2794981.stm
-A study on the role of community health workers in strengthening disease surveillance in Tanzania:
http://www.oie.int/downld/imprimeur/pdfs%20review24-3/Allport921-932.pdf
-A study of the selection process, impact, and sustainability of para-vets in pastoralist areas of Kenya (long document):
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/ag277e/ag277e.pdf
You may also consider whether the following DCFRN scripts on animal health would interest your audience:
-The value of indigenous veterinary practices (Package 63, Script 7, April 2002):
-Biosecurity – a new way to look at Avian Flu prevention (Package 79, Script 7, November 2006)
You may also wish to research and produce a news story on access to veterinary care in your area. Questions to ask may include:
-What kind of livestock production is carried out in your area? Are there herdsmen or other farmers whose livelihoods depend on livestock? Do many farming families keep animals in addition to planting crops?
-How many veterinarians and para-vets serve your area? How well do farmers feel that these practitioners are able to meet their veterinary needs? For example, can farmers access veterinary care in a timely fashion, and can they rely on the quality of care?
-If there are community animal health workers, or para-vets, in your area, what is their typical working day or week like? What sorts of disease care and prevention methods do they regularly practice?
-What is the role of traditional veterinary knowledge in preventing and treating disease in local livestock? Can you find examples of particular indigenous techniques that herdsmen or farmers find effective?
