Isiolo County’s animal health improvement has received a boost after the department of livestock received a CBPP testing Kit and Rose Bengal Reagents worth Kshs. 500,000 from a German Organization Veterinaires Sans Frontieres Suiss (VSF).
While handing over the donations, Genevier Owour who is in charge of Upscaling of Integrated Management for Livelihoods and Collaborative Disease Surveillances for animal health project in Isiolo (UPICAM) under VSF, said that the current intervention will ensure the veterinary officers are carrying out their animal disease analysis within Isiolo town unlike before when they were taking disease samples all the way to Kabete which delayed the interventions.
She added that they have been working closely with the County Government of Isiolo especially the veterinary department where they supported the training of three laboratory technicians on simple laboratory disease tests. VSF in partnership with the County Government of Isiolo is also set to develop an Isiolo Disease Map which will outline prominent animal diseases in all wards.
While receiving the donation, the CEC for Agriculture ,Livestock and Fisheries Dr. Lawrence Mwongela lauded VSF for their intervention saying the testing kits and the reagents will assist in testing several diseases among them brucellosis, Trypanosomiasis and East Coast Fever which highly affect animal production locally.
Also in attendance was the Chief Officer for Agriculture Salad Tutana who said 80 % of Isiolo residents are livestock keepers and the VSF intervention will highly contribute to the economy of Isiolo County by improving livestock resilience by timely identifying diseases affecting their animals for quick intervention.
