Southern Africa Newcastle Disease Control Project (SANDCP) - update

April - September 2004

Update from Robyn Alders, Team Leader, SANDCP
Maputo, Mozambique, E-mail: robyn@tropical.co.mz

As usual, project staff and partners have been working hard to ensure that ND control activities in rural areas of Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania are well established by the end of the project in June 2005. We are grateful for the interest and good humour of all who have assisted with:

• The Third Project Coordinating Committee Meeting held in Lilongwe, Malawi, which brought together representatives from Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, AusAID and GRM International;
• The mid-term review of the project by external consultants in April;
• The I-2 ND laboratory vaccine trial that was successfully completed in Malawi in June and the vaccine field trial that commenced in July; ;
• The training of extension workers and community vaccinators in Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania;
• Two more ND vaccination campaigns that were conducted in project areas in Mozambique and Tanzania;
• The 2004 – 2005 Annual Plan that was approved by AusAID in June;
• The monitoring and evaluation of ND control activities;
• The annual national planning workshop that was held in Malawi;
• The change over of Country Coordinators in Tanzania;
• Coordination meetings with partners in Gaza, Inhambane and Tete Provinces in Mozambique;
• The visit to project offices in Malawi and Tanzania by Ms Olga Reina, the SANDCP Regional Office Manager;
• Short-term advisor inputs - by Mr Eduardo Carvalho (SAL Consultoria, reviewing cost-recovery activities) and Dr Christine Ahlers (poultry expert) in Mozambique and Tanzania, and by Dr Ian Morgan (veterinary epidemiologist) in all three countries;
• Visits to the project by Dr George Mukiibi-Muka and Ms Rita Mwase from Uganda and Mr Pride Magwali of the Catholic Relief Services in Zimbabwe;
• Dr Harun's (Deputy Team Leader) participation in the 5 th Asia Pacific Poultry Health Conference held at the Gold Coast, Australia, in April and the FAO/IAEA Forth Co-ordination Meeting of the FAO/IAEA Co-ordination Research Programme on the ‘Assessment of the effectiveness of vaccination strategies against Newcastle Disease and Gumboro Disease using immunoassay-based technologies for increasing backyard poultry production in Africa' held in Vienna, Austria, in May; and;
• My participation in the World's Poultry Congress in Turkey during June that was kindly funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.

Dr Wambura, Our Country Coordinator in Tanzania, has accepted a lecturing position at the Sokoine University of Agriculture and as we wish him well in his new job, we also welcome Dr Msami as our new Tanzanian Coordinator. Project staff continue to enjoy receiving e-mails from colleagues working with village poultry in many parts of the world and we hope that this exchange of ideas will continue.

SANDCP is funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AUSAID).
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Informative Links on Southern Africa Newcastle Disease Control Project (SANDCP):

SANDCP - Project Organogram	pdf (52 kb)
SANDCP - Newsletter in Portuguese	pdf (718 kb)
Article / Paper
The impact of Newcastle disease control in village chickens on the welfare of rural households in Mozambique	pdf (75 kb)
Village chickens, food security and HIV/AIDS mitigation	pdf (83 kb)
Presentation
HIV/ AIDS Conference Presentation November 2003	pdf (895 kb)
eNewsletter on Rural Poultry
First Edition - April 2003	pdf (406 kb)
Second Edition - October 2003	pdf (553 kb) Word no pictures (481kb)
Third Edition - March 2004	pdf (260kb) with pictures Word (215kb) without pdf (190kb) without

The Southern Africa Newcastle Disease Control project goal is to assist the Governments of Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania to improve rural food security and improve livelihoods of the rural poor. The project will work towards:

• Strengthening the capability of, and relationship between, stakeholders in order to successfully implement Newcastle Disease (ND) control programs in Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi; and
• Achieving a decrease in chicken mortality rates caused by ND in project activity areas.

There are four components to the project:

• Strengthening Community approaches;
• Vaccine Production;
• Training and Extension at all levels; and
• Project Management.

Village chickens in each of the three countries for which this project has been designed (Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi) are the most significant livestock species in terms of levels of ownership, access to animal protein, and the potential for earning cash income. Village chickens are generally owned and managed by women and the rural poor, and are usually run under a free-range, low input management system.

The principal problem for low input management systems is that strategies for disease control are mostly absent. ND is the most catastrophic disease, yet thermostable vaccines, notably I-2, can be manufactured in-country and are cheap to manufacture and to supply to village poultry owners. They are also simple to administer. Whilst the technology exists to assist rural poultry producers, the challenge for this project is to educate stakeholders about the use of the vaccine, and to set up a sustainable manufacturing and distribution network to those areas where it is most needed.

This project follows on from and expands upon the ACIAR/National Veterinary Research Institute of Mozambique (INIVE) ND Control project, which ran from 1996 to 2001. The project demonstrated the effectiveness of the I-2 vaccine under field conditions; developed and produced a comprehensive extension package; and supported vaccination campaigns undertaken by government agencies and NGOs. The vaccination campaigns using the I-2 vaccine have been conducted in trial zones since March 1999 and are still continuing today in an increasing number of districts.

Implementation of the project is the responsibility of GRM International as the Australian Managing Contractor, in association with Uniquest. GRM takes full responsibility for management of the project, including management of all operational and financial aspects, contracting personnel, mobilisation, logistics and reporting as well as managing and coordinating the delivery of technical services and project support.

If you would like more information on the project, please contact ruralpoultry@grm.com.au