How I applied ISAVET skills to contain rabies – Emmanuel’s story
Emmanuel Lesiantam was among the (In Service Applied Veterinary Epidemiology Training) ISAVET Cohort III trainees two years ago. He is a field Veterinary Officer stationed at Baragoi a Subcounty of Samburu County and an active member of the County One Health group. A group whose formation was also inspired by the ISAVETEEs as they are commonly referred to here.
Emmanuel was born and brought up in Samburu and endured the hardships that came with choosing education over cattle herding. Pastoralism is the main economic activity in Samburu and many children spend a better part of their childhood herding livestock. During Emmanuel’s younger days most parents preferred their boys to stay in the fields with livestock than in classrooms. Emmanuel chose education and does not have any regrets looking back. To him being an animal health professional was his dream and he is aiming for the skies. He already has a Diploma in Animal Health and still eager to learn more.
“When I saw the ISAVET training advert, I immediately applied for it and was very happy when I got a letter inviting me for the training.” Emmanuel says.
One practical field case stands out for Emmanuel since he graduated from the ISAVET training. The case brings him happiness and sadness almost in equal measure. It was a case of baptism with fire as it required him to apply the skills he had just acquired. He narrates to us the story -
A young boy from Nachola village was taking care of the father’s flock of goats and saw a stray dog attack and bite one goat before fleeing off. The boy reported the case to the father who later advised that the goat be sold off to earn the family some cash. On the way to the market some days later, unknown to the boy and the father, the goat had already been infected with rabies from the earlier dog bite.
Days later the boy came down with rabies and was admitted to Baragoi Health Centre where he succumbed. This occurred in Emmanuel’s area, and it disturbed him that there was very low awareness of the disease by public, a tragic combination that led to loss of a young life.
“Had the boy known, he could have taken precautions, had the father known he would have reported the case to veterinary authorities. Due to lack of awareness a life was lost, and this pains me to date.” Emmanuel says as tears well at the lateral corners of his eyes.
Emmanuel was determined to make this the first and final case in his area. Using the skills gathered at ISAVET, he carried out a trace back of the case and while doing this was able to create awareness on rabies to the local communities. The exercise yielded a detailed report on rabies case.
Armed with this report Emmanuel wrote a proposal to VSF-Suisse and received two hundred doses of rabies vaccine. With the support the Samburu County Veterinary team was able to vaccinate 186 dogs in Nachola village where the case occurred and four neighboring villages. This has greatly reduced incidences of rabies in the area – making Emmanuel’s dream come true.
Emmanuel is an active member of the County One Health team; this intervention is one of the success stories that he has shared on how this approach can improve prevention and management of disease outbreaks.
Dr. Khadija Chepkorir, the National ISAVET Coordinator at the Directorate of Veterinary Services- Kenya affirms that indeed the training is greatly improving the disease outbreak management of the field frontline veterinary staff. He is happy that Emmanuel and other ISAVETEEs are benefiting from livestock keepers and the general public. This assertion is also shared by the County Director of Veterinary Services Dr. Boreya Lekenit who confirms that indeed the training has significantly improved the report writing skills of his veterinary officers.
Useful links
About the Global Health Security Agenda
For more information contact
Joseph Othieno
National Communications Specialist
FAO Kenya
Email: [email protected]