Judith’s Story

Judith Chikho, Poultry farmer, MALAWI

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Judith lives in the village of Chipasula in the hilly and picturesque Ntchisi district of Malawi. She has six children from ten to twenty years of age. She and her husband are very proud of their progress in raising village poultry – what we would call ‘backyard chickens’. Judith told us about her experiences since KYEEMA started the GRM Communities 1st project in her village.

Before the project started, people used to lose a lot of chickens to Newcastle disease. They tried various remedies but none was particularly effective. The disease came once or twice every year and wiped out most if not all of the chickens. Then the National Rural Poultry Centre in Malawi trained a community based vaccinator, Anna Ching’ombe, and a program of vaccination was commenced at Chipasula and surrounding villages. We only learned later that Anna was in fact Judith’s daughter! Judith was surprised at the effectiveness of this program and became one of its strong proponents. She told us that she now produces many more chickens because there are much fewer deaths. She now has about 21 chickens of various ages. She eats chicken meat much more frequently than she used to and sells many more chickens these days. Her husband told us that he estimated the total number of chickens eaten or sold in their household was now more than double what it was before the vaccination program began. We had no means of firm verification but from what we know of the disease, this estimate is quite plausible.

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KYEEMA history

Our new website now live!


KYEEMA Foundation, and its subsidiary the International Rural Poultry Centre (IRPC), have been operating for 11 years now. Our original website was developed in 2005 and in the past 10 years, technology has changed dramatically. So it is definitely time to launch a new look! The new website is located at: www.kyeemafoundation.org. Thanks go to the website designers Julie Fairless and Paolo Curray for their patience in finalising this website and for their beautiful layout.

 

Community vaccinator taking vaccine from cooler box prior to vaccinating chickens

Veterinary Cold Chain Manual being printed in English and French

While the human health community pays considerable attention to cold chain issues, the animal health cold chain receives much less attention. Fortunately, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) has provided funding for KYEEMA, in collaboration with the University of Sydney, to develop and print a Cold Chain manual for veterinary vaccines in both English and French, which is now being prepared for printing.

Vaccines are a key component of animal disease prevention and control worldwide. They have a major role in protecting animal and public health, reducing animal suffering, enabling efficient production of food animals, and greatly reducing the need for antibiotics to treat food and companion animals. However, these important activities can be seriously compromised by poor vaccine storage and handling.

This manual covers aspects of storage and transport of veterinary vaccines: the equipment used, monitoring the cold chain, how to recognise and deal with breaches of the cold chain, and packing vaccines. It will support effective distribution of the I-2 Newcastle disease (ND) vaccine and will enhance local capacity to store and handle vaccines effectively, leading to better nutritional, livelihood and environmental outcomes for those living in poverty.

All countries interested in improving the storage and transport of animal vaccines, including those currently producing or wishing to produce I-2 vaccine for the control of ND in village chicken populations, will benefit from the use of this manual. The final printed and online versions will be ready for distribution in early 2016.

Community vaccinator taking vaccine from cooler box prior to vaccinating chickens

Community vaccinator taking vaccine from cooler box prior to vaccinating chickens

KYEEMA now has Deductible Gift Recipient Status

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We are proud to announce that in February 2015, the KYEEMA Foundation was endorsed by the Australian Taxation Office as an approved Deductible Gift Recipient organisation.

This means that donations given by any Australian taxpayer to the KYEEMA Foundation “Developing Country Fund” can now be claimed as a tax deduction. Donations can be made through our new website.

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