Food scares: Agrifood systems everywhere need greater cooperation and investments in safer foods and farming
A4NH / Agri-Health / Books and Chapters / Cameroon / Canada / China / Consumption / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / Food Safety / FSZ / Ghana / Human Health / ILRI / Markets / Policy / South Sudan / Spotlight / UK / USA / Zoonotic Diseases

Food scares: Agrifood systems everywhere need greater cooperation and investments in safer foods and farming

An interesting, if scary, read is chapter 6 of the recently launched flagship report of IFPRI on reducing and managing food scares, co-written by Delia Grace at ILRI and John McDermott, who directs the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health, led by IFPRI. Continue reading

Managing the most nutritious, and riskiest, foods in the informal markets of developing countries
A4NH / Africa / Agri-Health / Animal Products / Consumption / Disease Control / Epidemiology / Food Safety / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Nigeria / Nutrition / Opinion Piece / Spotlight

Managing the most nutritious, and riskiest, foods in the informal markets of developing countries

A new book compiling 25 contemporary studies on food safety in Africa’s informal markets offers (surprising) lessons for much of the developing world. Continue reading

First global map of the rising use of antimicrobial drugs in farm animals published in PNAS
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Food Safety / FSZ / Geodata / Human Health / ILRI / Intensification / Spotlight

First global map of the rising use of antimicrobial drugs in farm animals published in PNAS

As reported last week in a scientific paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), Global trends in antimicrobial use in food animals, worldwide antimicrobial consumption is expected to rise by a staggering 67% between 2010 and 2030. Continue reading

Fighting fire with fire: New study shows co-parasitic infections of cattle protect the animals from lethal disease
Agri-Health / Article / Cattle / Central Africa / Disease Control / East Africa / ECF / Epidemiology / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / LiveGene / LIVESTOCKFISH / Southern Africa / Spotlight

Fighting fire with fire: New study shows co-parasitic infections of cattle protect the animals from lethal disease

A Boran calf and girl in eastern Kenya (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). A new study of the cattle killer East Coast fever finds a protective process that may also be at work in human malaria: Infections with milder parasites may protect against severe disease. African cattle infected with a lethal parasite that kills one million … Continue reading

Despite contamination concerns, Africa must embrace ‘wet markets’ as key to food security
A4NH / Africa / Agri-Health / Animal Products / Books and Chapters / Brucellosis / Disease Control / Food Safety / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Markets / Research / Spotlight / Women

Despite contamination concerns, Africa must embrace ‘wet markets’ as key to food security

A new compilation of 25 studies in Africa finds that informal markets provide essential sources of food and income for millions of poor, with milk and meat that is often safer than supermarkets. Misguided efforts to control the alarming burden of food-related illnesses in low-income countries risk intensifying malnutrition and poverty — while doing little to improve food safety. Blunt crack-downs on informal milk and meat sellers that are a critical source of food and income for millions of people are not the solution. Continue reading

Lavish new pictorial book honours the world’s primary food producer–the family farmer
Agri-Health / Books and Chapters / Consumption / Crop-Livestock / Farming Systems / Food Security / FSZ / Gender / Human Health / ILRI / ILRIComms / Intensification / Livelihoods / Livestock Systems / Nutrition / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Spotlight / Women

Lavish new pictorial book honours the world’s primary food producer–the family farmer

Livestock matters a great deal in developing countries, playing an increasingly important role in food security and economic development. In fact, the livestock subsector is growing faster than all other agriculture sectors in developing countries worldwide. And importantly in the International Year of Family Farming, the bulk of that livestock production is occurring on small family farms. Livestock farming offers unique features to support local livelihoods and economies, especially for women. Continue reading

One-for-all and all-for-one: Breaking down the walls between the livestock, health and environmental sectors
A4NH / Agri-Health / Canada / Directorate / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Environment / Epidemiology / Food Safety / Food Security / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / ILRI40 / NRM / Policy / Presentation / Pro-Poor Livestock / Spotlight / Zoonotic Diseases

One-for-all and all-for-one: Breaking down the walls between the livestock, health and environmental sectors

In case you missed it, here is the gist of a keynote presentation on ‘one-health’ made by Jimmy Smith, the director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), at the 5th biennial conference of the International Association for Ecology & Health, held in Montreal, Canada, 11−15 Aug 2014. Smith’s presentation was titled: ‘Healthy people, animals and ecosystems for global food and nutritional security’. Continue reading

African Animal Annals: Deadly trifecta of climate change, population and disease?
A4NH / Africa / Agri-Health / Bird flu / Books and Chapters / Climate Change / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / RVF / Spotlight / Zoonotic Diseases

African Animal Annals: Deadly trifecta of climate change, population and disease?

All fine artwork on this page is by Olivia Pendergast (see note below for more information). In the last quarter of 2014 a book was published and launched on climate change and public health. Edited by Colin Butler, of the University of Canberra, and published by CABI, the book brings together 56 authors from 19 … Continue reading

ILRI@40: Video note on One Health research priorities in Southeast Asia
A4NH / Agri-Health / Agriculture / Film and Video / Food Safety / FSZ / ILRI40 / Southeast Asia / Vietnam / Zoonotic Diseases

ILRI@40: Video note on One Health research priorities in Southeast Asia

In this short film (1:17 mins), Hung Nguyen, a food safety scientist with ILRI in Vietnam, reflects on a recent discussion at a regional workshop on livestock and One Health that identified research priorities in Southeast Asia for the next 40 years. Continue reading

Deadly strain of bird flu in China linked to live poultry markets; high-risk spots in Asia mapped–New study
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Asia / Bangladesh / Bird flu / CCAFS / China / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / Geodata / Human Health / HUMIDTROPICS / ILRI / India / Indonesia / Philippines / Poultry / SLS / Spotlight / Vietnam / Zoonotic Diseases

Deadly strain of bird flu in China linked to live poultry markets; high-risk spots in Asia mapped–New study

A new study reveals conditions linked to the emergence and spread of deadly bird flu and maps the areas of Asia at greatest risk of the spread of the new virus strain. A dangerous strain of avian influenza, H7N9, that’s causing severe illness and deaths in China may be inhabiting a small fraction of its potential range and appears at risk of spreading to other suitable areas of India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, according to a new study published today in the journal Nature Communications. Continue reading