Linking research and community-based animal healthcare in East Africa

This paper describes how Community-Based Animal Health Worker (CAHW) programmes can be strengthened by linkages with veterinary specialists. Case studies are presented from southern Sudan, Kenya and Tanzania, discussing how CAHW programmes and researchers can benefit from working together using participatory research approaches. The strengths of using CAHWs for research were that researchers could address local problems with local people; CAHWs are key informants with a good understanding of disease, are willing to work in remote areas, and are close to animals to take samples and provide treatments. The limitations of using CAHWs for research are that more time is required to arrange research; researchers need to be adaptive to constraints in more inaccessible areas; and CAHWs may be bias and/or influenced by powerful elders or leaders.