VetAid Kenya: Drought Response Appeal
Lessons from the Horn of Africa drought 2005/6
‘If urgent action is taken early in a crisis to protect livelihoods, the effects of drought on pastoralists can be mitigated… Yet agencies, donors and national governments proved unable to address the crisis effectively in its early stages. Livelihoods interventions have been limited, and the response has focused overwhelmingly on food aid.’
‘One of the key difficulties in swiftly mounting livelihoods interventions during the early stages of the emergency stemmed from technical and organisational weaknesses in assessing, designing and implementing them.’
From: ‘Saving lives through livelihoods: critical gaps in the response to the drought in the Greater Horn of Africa’ HPG Briefing Note, Overseas Development Institute, May 2006
Current Context: The Regional Disaster
The drought situation in North Eastern Kenya and other marginal agriculture areas is becoming increasingly serious, with the poor 2010 short rains contributing to an acute food and livelihood crisis as early as January 2011. This situation has been further exacerbated by the poor performance of the long rains through April, May, June and July 2011 and, based on the seasonal forecast for August and beyond has now deteriorated into a humanitarian emergency way before the onset of the short rains (expected in October).
Map of Eastern Africa Drought(OCHA 2011)
The President of Kenya declared the current drought a national disaster in his speech to the nation in late May 2011. This is in the midst of an inflation rate of 14% which is the highest in two years and likely to continue increasing (OCHA, May 2011). Food prices have shot up drastically to unprecedented levels with maize prices rising sharply to 30-60 percent above the 5 year average in the pastoral and agro-pastoral areas.
Most of the people worst affected by the drought are traditionally pastoralists who traditionally rely on keeping livestock for their livelihood. However their animals have also been badly hit by the disaster with starvation, disease and death commonplace. Many of their best breeding animals are dying and so regenerating the herds after the worst of the drought and restoring pastoral livelihoods will be impossible.
Cattle in the Tana Delta Area August 2011 (Vetaid Kenya)
In the North Eastern Province, where the drought is most severe, the main coping mechanisms for pastoralists is to move their livestock southwards to the Tana River delta, Galana Ranch and Mwingi District and Tsavo East National Park. To date, over one million head of livestock have moved into the Tana River Country in search of better pastures whilst other herds have moved to the Galana Ranch and Tsavo East National Park.
Conflicts over access to grazing between the pastoral communities from the north and the resident farming communities along the river are on the rise. Livestock diseases such as Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia (CCPP), Mange, Foot and Mouth Disease, and other notifiable diseases may occur, thus depleting further the pastoral assets and constraining their livelihoods. Note: a PPR outbreak has already been reported in Isiolo.
Response to Emergency
Kenya has not seen an emergency of this magnitude before and the Government, NGOs and international agencies (including the UK Department for International Development and the Disaster Emergency Committee) have moved quickly to raise funds to provide food, water and shelter for those worst affected by the disaster. Whilst these short term measures are clearly a crucial initial response to save lives, there is a longer concern about whether people who have moved to the massive emergency refugees camps will ever be able to return to their pastoral livelihoods.
Cattle in the Tana Delta Area August 2011 (Vetaid Kenya)
One area that Kenyan and international organisations have been struggling with is how to maintain a breeding nucleus of cattle and goats on an increasingly limited food resource. One response that the government and NGOs such as Oxfam is trying is de-stocking the livestock commercially and through slaughter for food/meat distribution. However, it has always been difficult to convince e pastoralists to give up their animals especially when they are little more than skin and bones with no monetary value.
One option that does offer some hope is to protect livestock herds that have moved into areas with better pastures still persist such as the South East of the country around the Tana River. By providing some grazing and additional forage supplies it may be possible to keep some of these animals alive until the new rains come further North. However, there are many challenges including the risk of disease outbreaks in animals which are already weak and whose immune status is poor and the movement and clustering of animals makes disease transmission more likely. In addition there are endemic diseases such as trypanosomiasis which incoming livestock will have no resistance to.
Cattle in the Tana Delta Area - recent rains have already had an effect August 2011 (Vetaid Kenya)
In order to try and assist the pastoralists who have managed to move their stock south, a number of organisations have set up an emergency veterinary response. One of these, VetAid Kenya, is a local East African NGO which has been working in the region for over 20 years providing veterinary support for pastoralists. As a Kenyan organisation, VetAid has the particular advantage that it is able to mobilise veterinary teams rapidly and deliver effective interventions in the field. It also works closely with the FAO, Ministry of Livestock and other veterinary partners (Veterinaires Sans Frontieres (VSF) - Belgium, VSF-Suisse, and VSF-Germany) to try and protect these herds.
Map of Livestock Emergency Program - the Tana River area in white is where Vetaid has been asked to help (FAO Kenya)
Proposed intervention
VETAID Kenya is already working in the affected areas providing the following support for pastoralists and their livestock:
- De-worming of stock within the Tana River delta to reduce parasite burdens and minimize nutritional stress
- Vaccination against PPR, CCPP, sheep and goats pox, enterotoxaemia, blackquarter, anthrax and CBPP
- Providing pour-ons to control Tsetse flies and protect against trypanosomiasis
- Promoting de-stocking for food by purchasing livestock in good condition, slaughter and distribution of the meat to the communities
The approaches are already providing of benefit to the small number of pastoralists who have been reached. It is proposed to expand these activities to benefit a far larger number of livestock in the coming 6 months. This will require additional resources and support in a number of key areas:
- Field based staff – VetAid Kenya will engage additional veterinary teams depending on resources available (Coordinated by VETAID Kenya)
- Vaccine and drug procurement – conditional on financial support and availability
- Fodder supply – potential to purchase and bring in from other areas to feed livestock (Coordinated by VetAid Kenya)
- Technical and communication support – a Technical Officer who will oversee the establishment of a mobile support network and implement surveillance
- Fundraising – a major appeal to UK vets for support working through the UK veterinary press (coordinated by the Royal Veterinary College).
Major problems and constraints
The effect of drought on people and their livestock is not only potentially devastating but can also be difficult for donor agencies to respond to effectively. It is widely recognised that whilst food aid can be essential to keep people alive but it does not offer a long term solution. Likewise, there is a need for long term planning to ensure that livestock projects such as the VetAid Kenya initiative are sustainable. This needs to take into account issues such as climate change, overgrazing, wildlife conservation, tribal conflicts etc. There is now an established protocol developed by agencies including VetAid called the Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards which this intervention is using to help plan its program.
New Approaches and Initiatives
The RVC is also working closely with VetAid Kenya to develop a new approach to emergency monitoring of emergencies such as the current drought. This involves the use of Android mobile phones running the open source EpiCollect software application developed at Imperial College. Google have now also become involved and have been providing mobile phones donated by their staff for use by VetAid. Also importantly their Nairobi office has agreed to provide technical support and training in country to help support VetAid in the field. The FAO is also actively promoting these new developments as they believe they could provide an important way of monitoring vaccination interventions in the field. So perhaps we can not only respond to the current day crisis but also be better prepared for the future .....
So Please Provide Some Funding However Little!
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For further information please contact Nick Short (nshort@rvc.ac.uk).
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