The Veterinary Council has trained nine more Community Animal Healthcare Workers (CAHW) to acquire essential skills to provide affordable and high-quality animal disease treatment in Kaduna.
This training aims at controlling and preventing animal diseases, ultimately boosting livestock production.
Selected from Chikun, Igabi, Kachia, and Kubau LGAs of Kaduna state, these workers are expected to play a significant role in reducing the incidence of livestock diseases in their communities.
Damilola Areo, the program associate of Anbuyets Konsulta Nigeria Limited, reported that the newly selected animal healthcare workers have been trained and certified by the Veterinary Council of Nigeria (VCN). This certification qualifies them to administer treatment and vaccinations to various livestock, including cattle, chickens, and small ruminants.
According to her, “The idea behind the CAHW is to get them closer to the farmers. We selected them from the communities so that they can go back and provide services, including vaccination and basic animal treatment, among others, for farmers in those communities.
“We have trained over 90 CAHW since our inception in 2021, with a duration of two weeks online following VCN criteria. We received support from the Alliance for Sustainable Livestock to conduct a sensitization program for them and also a vaccination campaign in selected communities.”
She disclosed that a vaccination campaign is scheduled to take place in selected areas from January 30 to February 10. The exercise aims to sensitize farmers about the importance of immunizing their livestock, emphasizing that prevention is better than cure.
Farmers will be educated on prevalent livestock diseases in the region, such as Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), Anthrax, Newcastle, and Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR).
She added that the CAHW will support the state government by reporting diseases through an app, providing valuable information on prevalent diseases in communities to aid the government in planning. “They will also be supporting the state government with disease reports by uploading disease records on an application when they come in contact with a particular disease, thereby informing the government of the prevalent diseases in various communities for better planning.”