In November 2020, Zuleka Ismail joined the One Health for Humans, Environment, Animals and Livelihoods (HEAL) Project as interim regional manager. Zuleka brings more than seven years of experience in managing and monitoring public health and veterinary programs in pastoralist systems to the table. She sat down with Saba Ermyas, communication officer at the International … Continue reading
Category Archives: Vaccines
Global action needed to fight the spread of African swine fever
African swine fever, an infectious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs, has spread to nearly 51 countries across the globe and continues to wreak havoc with countries facing significant socio-economic losses in the current situation. The disease, which is caused by African swine fever virus, causes hemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in domestic … Continue reading
Grass roots vaccination campaigns support rabies eradication in Kenya
Significant challenges exist in sub-Saharan Africa where vaccination efforts and large-scale campaigns, which focus on rural areas, often have mixed results. In Kenya, the National Rabies Elimination Coordination Committee oversees efforts to eliminate dog-mediated rabies. It is coordinated by the Zoonotic Disease Unit (ZDU) and the ministries of health, and agriculture livestock and fisheries. Continue reading
‘A vaccine is coming—the question is how soon’
Nobel Prize winner Peter Doherty addressed the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) at its latest Town Hall meeting Nobel Prize winner in physiology or medicine and ILRI patron Peter Doherty discussed vaccines, herd immunity, and policy responses to COVID-19 with Director General Jimmy Smith at ILRI’s weekly digital town hall meeting on 29 May 2020. … Continue reading
Woman veterinarian pioneers public-private partnership to improve veterinary service delivery in Ethiopia
To ensure better and rationalized veterinary service delivery that addresses local needs, the Health of Ethiopian Animals for Rural Development (HEARD) project has established public-private partnership task forces in Ethiopia’s Amhara, Oromia and Somali regions. Continue reading
The good and not-so-good news about the state of COVID-19 vaccine development: A primer from ILRI
Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), holds a weekly town hall for the 600-plus staff of the institute as well as staff from many of ILRI partners who are hosted on ILRI campuses in Nairobi, Addis Ababa and elsewhere. In the town hall last week, Vish Nene, co-leader of ILRI’s Animal and Human Health program, made a short presentation on the latest developments in COVID-19 vaccine work. Excerpts and slides from his virtual presentation follow. Continue reading
ILRI computing capacity made available to COVID-19 vaccine developers
While the ILRI campuses in Nairobi and Addis Ababa are uncharacteristically empty, the institute’s servers are working away at top speed, contributing to the first essential steps in developing a vaccine against COVID-19. Continue reading
Can a vaccine save the world’s pigs from African swine fever?
A recent article by Katarina Zimmer in The Scientist examines how close we are to developing a vaccine to prevent African swine fever (ASF). It contains an extended discussion of the work of Lucilla Steinaa, an immunologist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Steinaa has been focusing on the specific types of the swine … Continue reading
African swine fever ten years on: the lessons learned and the way forward
An interview with Dirk Pfeiffer, François Roger, Linda Dixon and Dieter Schillinger to better understand existing knowledge gaps between research findings managing the spread of African swine fever and actionable solutions. Continue reading
Livestock story-telling at ILRI—Part 2: Ekta Patel, Maasai ‘Fly Girl’
My name is Ekta Patel. I’m communications manager for ILRI’s Bioscience Directorate. I’m an unusual species. I come from an Indian background, but while most Indians in East Africa go into business, I had a passion for molecular biology and became a scientist. Continue reading