Highlights from GCARD

COLLECTIVE ACTION NEWS is a periodical e-publication of the CGIAR’s Regional Collective Action in Eastern and Southern Afric

Agriculture and Rural Development Day at the Cancún Climate Change Conference

Agriculture and Rural Development Day (ARDD) was held for the second time during the Sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which took place earlier this month at Cancún, Mexico. The day-long event, which drew hundreds of participants including policy makers, farmers, scientists and journalists, aimed to put agriculture on this year’s climate change agenda. In her opening speech, Inger Andersen, CGIAR Fund Council Chair and Vice President of Sustainable Development, World Bank talked about the intersection of agricultural development, food security and climate. She proposed agriculture as a solution that was a triple win of increased food security, resilience and reduction of emissions. The success of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in promoting the spread of Evergreen Agriculture in Africa was cited as an example of a climate-smart agricultural technique that can both increase crop yields and help to reduc

Laparoscopic myomectomy in Kenya : A 15 year retrospective review

Objectives: To evaluate the indications,operative techniques, outcomes, limitations and fertility outcomes following laparoscopic myomectomy.Design: Retrospective case analysisSetting: Various Private Hospitals in KenyaSubjects: One thousand and forty three patients who underwent laparoscopic myomectomyResults: The main indications for laparoscopic myomectomy in our review were Menorrhagia (52.1%), Primary Infertility (22.6 %), Secondary Infertility (14.3 %), Abdominal pain ( 8.2 % ) and pressure symptoms (2.8 %). The dominant myomas that were removed were intramural ( 45.4 %), subserous (34.6 %) and sub-mucous (19.9 %) of the cases respectively.Conclusions: Laparoscopic Myomectomy can be performed safely and effectively by adequately trained and skilled Surgeons and offers all the advantages of laparoscopic surgery including less haemorrhage, quicker recovery and return to work. The clinical outcomes are good and there were no major complications. The fertility outcomes are comparable to open myomectomy with better outcomes for sub mucous fibroids and deep intra-mural fibroids indenting the uterine cavity

Prevalence of Fasciolosis in Cattle, Sheep, and Goats Slaughtered in Slaughter Slabs in Trans-Nzoia West, Kenya. and Knowledge of Livestock Handlers

Background: Fasciolosis is known globally to be an important helminthic disease of ruminants caused by liver fluke species of the genus Fasciola, and it is one of the most neglected tropical zoonotic diseases that can lead to human infection. It has the widest geographic spread of any emerging zoonotic disease, and it occurs in many countries of the world.  Objectives: The study aimed at determining the prevalence of fasciolosis in ruminants slaughtered in Trans-Nzoia West. Specific objectives were to establish the trend of fasciolosis in ruminants, ascertain the relationship between fasciolosis prevalence and rainfall patterns and assess the knowledge of meat sellers and farmers about fasciolosis. Methodology: A 5-year secondary data retrospective study was carried out in Trans-Nzoia West, Trans-Nzoia County. The study population consisted of ruminants slaughtered, meat sellers and livestock farmers.Results: A total of 104,221 cattle, sheep and goats were slaughtered in the five-year period in which 6,098 (5.85%) were infested with fasciolosis with a prevalence of 6.52%, 6.08% and 4.10% in cattle, sheep, and goats respectively. Most meat sellers (72.2%) were able to identify fasciolosis in infested livers, 88.9% reported liver flukes infestation resulted in the loss of income while 58.3% were not aware of nutrition depletion associated with fasciolosis. Of the farmers interviewed, 52.9% grazed in swampy areas, 66.7% dewormed after 3 months, 78.4% had heard about fasciolosis and 80.0% did not know the cause of fasciolosis. The majority (95.0%) were not aware of the snail species spreading liver flukes while 77.5% did not know that fasciolosis was a zoonotic disease.Conclusion: Fasciolosis was prevalent in the area and caused great economic loss to the meat sellers. Most farmers were not aware of its cause and zoonotic nature. Recommendations: Fasciolosis control should be approached from a multidisciplinary angle and farmers should be educated on it and its zoonotic nature. Keywords: Fasciolosis, Prevalence, Knowledg

Regional Collective Action Wraps Up

After four years, the Regional Collective Action Programme has come to an end. In this final issue of Collective Action News, we report on how Regional Collective Action activities have supported the work of the Consortium and the CRPs. The Regional Collective Action Programme has been described by Carlos Seré, Director General of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), which has hosted the Programme since its inception in 2007, as ‘a bold experiment that achieved considerable success in promoting collaborative action in eastern and southern Africa that has now been overtaken by the process of CGIAR reform’. Many of the activities started under the Programme have now been incorporated into the CGIAR Consortium and the CGIAR Research Programmes (CRPs)

Day care laparoscopic surgery in gynaecology at a dedicated unit in Nairobi, Kenya

Objective: To evaluate and audit the outcomes of Gynaecological Day care Laparoscopic Surgery inNairobi,KenyaDesign: Retrospective case analysisSetting: The International Centre for Minimal Access Surgery, NairobiSubjects: one thousand three hundred and seventy nine patients undergoing Laparoscopic SurgeryResults: Between January 2011 to December 2015 a total of 1,379 Laparoscopic procedures were undertaken during the reporting period of which 1,121 ( 88.5 % ) were done as day procedures. In total 137 patients ( 9.9 % ) spent one night at ICMAS, 21 ( 1.5 % ) were transferred to a Major Hospital and 41 patients (2.9 %) underwent conversion to Laparotomy. There were two Hospital re-admissions (0.14 % ) and one complication ( 0.07% ), a bladder injury was encountered.Conclusions: Daycare surgery is a continually evolving speciality being competently performed by several units by various disciplines world over , including Kenya. In recent years the complexity of the procedures has increased with a wider range of patients being considered for challenging surgeries including those presenting with acute conditions. Our experiences have been favourable

A new initiative for better decision-making in nutrition interventions

Bioversity International, with support from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, is launching a unique initiative to improve nutrition intervention programmes by providing reliable and quality food consumption data for better informed decision-making. The initiative also aims to enrich national food composition tables, improve local nutritional guidelines, promote local foods and their conservation, and improve the local foods market

Comparison of home fortification with two iron formulations among Kenyan children: Rationale and design of a placebo-controlled non-inferiority trial.

INTRODUCTION: Home fortification powders containing iron and other micronutrients have been recommended by World Health Organisation to prevent iron deficiency anaemia in areas of high prevalence. There is evidence, however, that home fortification at this iron dose may cause gastrointestinal adverse events including diarrhoea. Providing a low dose of highly absorbable iron (3 mg iron as NaFeEDTA) may be safer because the decreased amount of iron in the gut lumen can possibly reduce the burden of these adverse effects whilst resulting in similar or higher amounts of absorbed iron. OBJECTIVE: To show non-inferiority of home fortification with 3 mg iron as NaFeEDTA compared with 12.5 mg iron as encapsulated ferrous fumarate, with haemoglobin response as the primary outcome. DESIGN: 338 Kenyan children aged 12-36 months will be randomly allocated to daily home fortification with either: a) 3 mg iron as NaFeEDTA (experimental treatment), b) 12.5 mg iron as encapsulated ferrous fumarate (reference), or c) placebo. At baseline, after 30 days of intervention and within 100 days post-intervention, blood samples will be assessed for primary outcome (haemoglobin concentration), iron status markers, Plasmodium parasitaemia and inflammation markers. Urine and stool samples will be assessed for hepcidin concentrations and inflammation, respectively. Adherence will be assessed by self-reporting, sachet counts and by an electronic monitoring device. CONCLUSION: If daily home fortification with a low dose of iron (3 mg NaFeEDTA) has similar or superior efficacy to a high dose (12.5 mg ferrous fumarate) then it would be the preferred choice for treatment of iron deficiency anaemia in children

Community seed banks: sharing experiences from North and South.

Note full title of report is: Community Seed banks: Sharing experiences from North and South. Report from a side event held 1 November 2017 during the Seventh Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in Kigali, Rwanda. Paris: DIVERSIFOOD. The number of community seed banks is rapidly increasing, in response to the growing demand for greater diversity of crop genetic resources among farmers and gardeners around the world. Two major studies shed light on this development, enabling a closer look at the differing approaches, methods, outreach and achievements. These studies were presented and illustrated with examples at a side-event at the Seventh Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty) in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2017, aimed at sharing experiences. This report presents the contents of the side-event as well as key decisions from the Governing Body Session of relevance for community seed banks