Written evidence submitted GALVmed
— The promotion of livestock health is
a key and often overlooked aspect in addressing the challenges
presented by urbanisation and poverty in developing countries.
— 80% of the world's poor depend on agriculture
and livestock for survival. Loss of their main source of livelihood
pushes poor people to seek refuge in crowded urban slums, where
they often continue to raise livestock in unsanitary conditions
and where disease becomes an increased risk.
— One of the first non-profit organisations
to address this pressing challenge and gap in development aid,
GALVmed is working to develop livestock medicines and raise
awareness of the issue, in an effort to promote sustainable livelihoods
for the rural and urban poor.
1. GALVmed welcomes the opportunity
to submit evidence to the Select Committee Inquiry: Urbanisation
and Poverty.
2. GALVmed, a not-for-profit global
alliance currently funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
and the UK Department for International Development (DFID), is
working with key partners to make a sustainable difference in
access to animal health medicines for poor livestock keepers,
protecting livestock and saving human life.
URBANISATION IN
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
3. In coming years, Sub-Saharan Africa,
the least urbanised region in the world is expected to sustain
the highest rate of urban growth in the world, as people move
away from poor rural areas to look for new sources of livelihood
in cities.[91]
4. By focusing on livestock health, GALVmed
is addressing urbanisation and poverty in two important ways:
(a) Reducing the influx of rural dwellers into
overcrowded cities: Sustaining Livestock Keepers' traditional
livelihood in rural areas and main source of income, thereby reducing
the number of rural poor moving into urban areas and slums
(b) Improving the livelihood and living conditions
of poor urban dwellers: In cases where urban dwellers do keep
animals, in close proximity, it is vital to ensure that the animals
are healthy and remain a source of livelihood and do not increase
the threat of disease in urban slums
5. In 2007 only 0.04% of total aid
to developing countries went to the Livestock sector.[92]
80% of the world's poor live in rural areas and depend on agriculture
and livestock for survival.
For most people in developing countries, livestock
represents the only asset that can be converted into cash. Farming
in these countries needs to be made more attractive and sustainable
with less risk through better control of livestock disease and
improved market access, offering poor people viable and attractive
alternatives to moving to cities. To avoid a food-gap, Farming
must be made genuinely viable and sustainable to the next generation.
A recent report by the Tegemeo Institute at Egerton University,
(cited in "The Daily Nation"), suggests that the average
age of Kenyan farmers is 59 years of age. 42.3% of the population
in Kenya is below 14 years old. About 30 per cent of
farmers are older than 65 years, suggesting that Kenya is
relying on the older generation for its food production.
6. GALVmed is working with partnerships
on the ground to address some of these issues, seeking to protect
livestock and save human life by:
(a) Developing, registering and launching several
vaccines, pharmaceutical and diagnostic products by 2015
(b) Partnering with organisations in developing
countries to ensure sustainable research, production and delivery
of new products to poor livestock keepers;
(c) Educating stakeholders on the links between
livestock and poverty and the role of livestock health in achieving
the Millennium Development Goals, including the eradication of
extreme poverty and hunger and ensuring environmental sustainability;
(d) Facilitating dialogue and collaboration in
research efforts for new livestock vaccines, medicines and diagnostic
systems
(e) Identifying the weak-links in value chains
which act as barriers to the accessibility and affordability of
livestock diagnostics, medicines and vaccines to poor people.
7. By protecting livestock from preventable
diseases, and addressing a major gap in development assistance,
GALVmed believes it can deliver lasting improvement to the livelihoods
of millions of rural and urban poor.
CHANGING DIETS,
GROWTH IN
DEMAND & INCREASED
DISEASE RISK
8. In developing countries, as people move
from rural to urban living, their diets change due to higher incomes
and more female employment. People eat more meat, milk and eggs
and more convenience foods (adding the significant world-wide
problem of obesity).
9. If the growth in demand is met in developing
countries by large-scale highly intensive producers, as is predominantly
the case, there is the risk of pollution of ground water and nuisance
from flies and odours from abattoirs in tropical countries with
high humidity. Such production units are often located in peri-urban
areas where food safety policies are often absent or lax.
10. The growth of production and processing
activity within cities and in peri-urban situations pose heightened
risk of animal-borne, infectious and zoonotic disease (passing
from animals to humans).
11. Many people who live in slums and in
peri-urban situations keep livestock, (including goats, chickens,
cattle, pigs, ducks, rabbits, turkeys). They do so out of sheer
necessity to be able to survive and in spite of byelaws banning
urban livestock keeping and in the absence of support structures.
The care of livestock in urban situations is often undertaken
by women and children. Cramped space makes keeping livestock more
viable than growing crops, though such farming also takes place.
Recommendations are made in the report of the workshop Urban
livestock keeping in sub-Saharan Africa edited by RICHARDS,
J.I. and GODFREY, S.H., which states:
The studies found that urban livestock keeping
benefits the poor and provides a way of diversifying livelihood
activities that are accessible to vulnerable groups, as well as
providing a source of locally produced food projects for people
living near the livestock keepers. There are, however, issues
such as access to clean drinking water, product safety, environmental
contamination and the risk of zoonotic diseases that need to be
addressed.
SOURCES:
Dr Keith Sones, Livestock Consultant, Nairobi, Kenya.
Research For Development, the DFID Website.
RICHARDS, J.I. and GODFREY, S.H. (Eds.) (2003) Urban
livestock keeping in sub-Saharan Africa: Report of a workshop
held on 3-5 March 2003 in Nairobi, Kenya. Natural
Resources International Ltd, Aylesford, Kent, UK. ISBN: 0-95329274-9-0
The Central Intelligence Agency, The World Fact
Book, website.
"The Daily Nation", Newspaper, Kenya.
"How Kenya's "lost generation" could bring the
economy to its knees" By GAKIHA WERU, April 4th 2009.
The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation And Development
website: http://stats.oecd.org/qwids/£?x=1&y=6&f=2:262,4:1,5:3,9:85,3:51,7:1&q=2:262+4:1+5:3+9:85+3:51,127+7:1+1:2+6:2003,
2004,2005,2006,2007,2008
United Nations. 2006. World
Urbanization Prospects: The 2005 Revision. New York: Population
Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations.
91 United Nations. 2006. World Urbanization Prospects:
The 2005 Revision. New York: Population Division, Department
of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations. Back
92
The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. Back
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