The Gambia, a sliver of a country along the Gambia River in West Africa, has abundant smallholders in villages all along the river. The smallholders host small herds of cattle, sheep and goats. Also, every household has chickens. Unfortunately, the country has only 2 working veterinarians, and of course they struggle to control Transboundary Animal Diseases. These TADs, such as foot-and-mouth disease and peste des petits ruminants, continue to rob smallholders of nutrition and income.
In a program funded by USDA, LifeStock has partnered with institutes in The Gambia to train government Livestock Advisors throughout the country in recognizing and reporting of these diseases.
Drs. Corrie Brown and Jeffrey Musser, along with the current and previous Chief Veterinary Officers, conducted workshops with 32 of these livestock personnel. The trained Livestock Advisors will now participate in a robust sampling and diagnostics program to help pinpoint most severe foci of disease, and so enable better control by the Gambian government.