Jayne Raper, professor in the department of biological sciences at Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY) and her husband Neil Stahl, vice president of Regeneron visit ILRI and share thoughts on trypanosomiasis and COVID-19. Continue reading
Category Archives: Trypanosomiasis
Improving animal health in southern Africa—Why it matters and what to do
In a new book chapter, Delia Grace, a veterinary epidemiologist and food safety expert at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, and the Natural Resources Institute, of the University of Greenwich, in the UK, says animal diseases are a threat not only to the livestock sector of southern Africa, but also to its economy (via reduced benefits from the region’s wildlife resources), and also to human health in the region. Continue reading
DFID/UKAid provides £4 million for genetics and health research to aid sustainable livestock production in Africa
Research to improve the health and productivity of farmed animals in tropical climates has received a £4 million boost from the UK Government. The investment from DFID was announced by the Secretary of State for International Development, Penny Mordaunt, during a visit to the University of Edinburgh. It will support research in the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health—a joint venture between the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, SRUC, ILRI, the latter of which has major research facilities in Kenya and Ethiopia. Continue reading
Medicine Nobel Laureate Peter Doherty is patron of the International Livestock Research Institute
Peter Doherty is today patron of two institutes: the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, a joint venture between the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Hospital researching infectious diseases in humans that became operational in 2014, and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), for whose predecessor, the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases (ILRAD), Doherty served for several years as a board member overseeing the science program. Continue reading
Cloned bull could contribute to development of disease-resistant African cattle
A note in a scientific journal gives an update on long-term research to develop African cattle resistant to the Africa animal disease known as trypanosomiasis. The aim of this research is to help reduce widespread poverty and hunger on the continent by improving livestock livelihoods. Continue reading
‘One Health for the Real World’ (or, ‘real livestock for real global wellbeing’)
Twenty organizations, including ILRI, made up the Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium, which from 2012 to 2015 coordinated research exploring the relations among African ecosystems and zoonotic diseases—those transmitted between animals and people—that impinge on ecosystem, human and animal wellbeing. Continue reading
‘Soft’ science at ILRAD/ILRI: A lively look back at three decades of veterinary epidemiology for development
For almost thirty years, the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases (ILRAD) then ILRI benefited from a strong research program in the epidemiological sciences. Over time, it progressively broadened its coverage in disease, disciplinary and geographic terms. The results of this work have now been assembled in this impact narrative, which carefully documents the wide range of issues addressed by the teams of researchers, and presents them in an illustrated and highly readable format. Continue reading
UK chief scientific adviser visits Kenya: Part 1—Legacy of British-ILRI partnerships in animal health research
There has been a long-term, consistent and highly productive engagement between research institutions and funding bodies of the United Kingdom and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and its predecessors, the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases (ILRAD) and the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA). Continue reading
Sam Black on Noel Murphy, Irish geneticist gentleman scholar
Noel Murphy died on Friday 16 January 2015, leaving the world devoid of a gentleman and scholar, and his friends and family bereft of a pillar of quiet strength, wisdom and thoughtfulness. Continue reading
New map: Benefits of controlling trypanosomosis in the Horn of Africa
Using the Horn of Africa as an example, the maps illustrate different steps in a methodology developed to estimate and map the economic benefits to livestock keepers of controlling a disease (Shaw et al. 2014). Cattle are first assigned to different production systems as shown in Map 1, illustrating for example, where mixed farming is heavily dependent on the use of draft oxen in Ethiopia, areas of Sudan and South Sudan where oxen use is much lower, and the strictly pastoral areas of Somalia and Kenya. Continue reading