Community Based Animal Health Program

General context

The pastoralist communities of southern Sudan have had their traditional way of life compromised by many years of civil war. This has resulted in displacement of large numbers of people and livestock, separation of families, and a breakdown of social and economic services including veterinary services. The end result has been the reduction in the ability of the southern Sudanese to gain adequate nutrition from the traditional sources of grain, fish, wild foods and livestock. The UN Consolidate Inter Agency Appeal 2001 noted that milk, meat and blood cover 20-60% of food needs. In times of famine, the amount of meat and milk increases dramatically in the diet and livestock are traded for grain where possible.
With the beginning of the civil war in southern Sudan in 1983, the weak Government - run veterinary services were totally disrupted. Training programmes in Khartoum and Juba became inaccessible to southerners and the capacity of southern Sudanese to take charge of veterinary services was limited. The absence of veterinary services has compromised pastoralist livelihoods through high mortality and morbidity of livestock. As vaccination campaigns ceased, there was a large increase in livestock deaths attributed to rinderpest and other diseases.

Specific constraints

With reduction in livestock numbers and productivity, pastoralist communities have less buffering against reduced crop yields and displacement. As milk is the major source of food during the hunger gap, the nutrition of children, and hence their resistance to diseases, is particularly compromised during that period. A national herd of healthy cows is crucial to the survival of thousands of southern Sudanese.
Factors adversely affecting the contribution of livestock to household food security include lowered livestock productivity (affected by poor management, nutritional stress and high incidence of disease) and reduced ownership of livestock (affected by raiding and conflict, stress sales and livestock death due to disease). These factors are compounded by the lack of any veterinary structure, and few opportunities for training of animal health workers due to the scant educational facilities. Local communities viewed disruption of veterinary services and insecurity as a major constraint to livestock production during the OLS 1999-2000 Annual Needs Assessment; together with diseases, raiding, access to grazing, water sources and markets.

Objectives

Main Objective

To improve the household food security of approximately 128,000 households through increasing access to livestock and livestock products and eradicating rinderpest.

 Specific Objectives

To improve livestock health and protect agro-pastoral livelihoods and asset bases by:

1. Support to community based animal health delivery service.
2. Supporting community based animal health services to maintain the rinderpest eradication community surveillance and control system.

Increase access to livestock and livestock products by women and also vulnerable households.

Activities

Capacity building

The basis of the programme is capacity building of the locals to be able to implement and manage the program by themselves. The training focuses on organizational aspects for the supervisors and veterinary coordinating committees (VCCs) and technical capacity building for the community a nimal health workers (CAHWs) and animal health auxiliaries (AHAs). Training activities include:

1. Initial and refresher training sessions for CAHWs using the standard Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) training package.
2. Supervisor training for supervisors conducted by VSF Belgium for all supervisors in southern Sudan.
3. Rinderpest eradication training for all livestock workers.
4. Organisational training for the local institutions.

Vaccination of livestock

Vaccination against cattle Diseases (Blackquarter, Haemorrhagic septicaemia, Contagious Bovine Pluero-pneumonia, Anthrax), goats (Contagious Caprine Pluero-pneumonia) and poultry (Newcastle Disease) is conducted. Preventive vaccination is conducted yearly with the aim of increasing the herd immunity. This vaccination targets at least 80% of the herds as opposed to post-outbreak vaccination, which is more localized and is aimed at stopping an outbreak. VSF Belgium through ECHO funding now procures livestock vaccines for use. Target vaccinations for 2003: 89,200.

 Livestock treatment

The community selected, VSF trained and supported livestock workers use a small selection of essential drugs to treat major endemic livestock diseases within their communities.
Target for 2003: 57,550 head of livestock treated for major diseases.

 Community involvement

The community and local supervisors are assisted to become more responsible for programme implementation and programme quality. The community is consulted through Community Dialogue Workshops and Meetings. Veterinary Coordination Committees have a major role in implementation and monitoring of the community based animal health program (CBAHP); they are drawn from the community and need training to understand and perform their roles.

Major activities are:

1. VCCs established and active
2. Community Dialogue Workshops and meetings carried out
3. Community Participatory Evaluations carried out in locations
4. Community managed cold chains
5. upervisors attending and actively participate in the southern Sudan Livestock coordination meetings (SSLCM) organized by FAO

Achievements:

1. Local fridge operators manage the vaccine cold chains
2. The local livestock supervisors receive and manage veterinary programme inputs distribution and use
3. A local rinderpest eradication mechanism is in place and is active in all project areas
4. A cost recovery system has been established in all VSF locations, with payment for veterinary services in cash or kind. Funds raised will be used for community development or re-investment in the veterinary programme.

  Gender

Women are involved in the care of livestock yet due to cultural inhibitions, are not fully involved in the programme. VSF will continue to implement a gender-sensitive programme and try to increase the participation of women. During 2004, women CAHWs will specifically be trained to provide health services for shoat and poultry. This will include aspects such as vaccinate chickens against Newcastle Disease virus and goats against CCPP.

Major activities are:

1. Gender-sensitive training and dialogue workshops
2. Ensure female participation in community dialogues
3. Women members in all VCCs
4. Women trained and active as veterinary workers
5. Establish at least one livestock micro-project managed by women

Benificiaries

The project beneficiaries are the war-affected agro-pastoralist populations of southern Sudan, whose livestock-raising activities are crucial to their survival. These communities are semi-sedentary and exercise seasonal migration annually. They move with their livestock from the domestic sites (high areas) where cultivation takes place in the wet season, to the swamps in the dry season. While the direct beneficiaries are the livestock owners, other members of society have access to livestock products through exchange or kinship ties.
Actual human and livestock population figures are very difficult to assess as numbers change according to season and insecurity. Using data from the NIDS (National Immunisation Day for Sudan), the Carter Centre and census figures during vaccination, the estimated target population in areas where the CBAHP is implemented by VSFs is 574,288 persons who depend on a cattle population estimated at 660,000. During 2003 consultations on all livestock (including small-stock) aimed at benefiting 98,500 households. The programme will address the needs of vulnerable groups through the activities for women and the concentration on smaller stock.

 Technical project sheet

Technical project sheet (pdf-94kb)