The Future of Smallholder Farming in Eastern Africa - Uganda ...

of defined roles for CBAHWs within the policy framework is a key factor in professional
veterinarians’ reservations about CBAHWs in Kenya in particular and in other developing
countries in general. These technicalities, compounded by the lack of scientific evidence that
CBAHW programs are effective, has led to active resistance to CBAHW programs.
The viability and effectiveness of CBAHW programs is dependent upon
communication, support, and cooperation with the professional veterinary system (De Haan
and Bekure 1991). These professional systems consist of:
• Professional veterinarians consisting mainly of degree holders; and
• Two cadres of para-veterinarians (or paraprofessionals) who include diploma holders
trained in animal health and certificate-level paraprofessionals trained at the animal
health training institutes (AHITI).
If CBAHWs are to provide livestock health services efficiently, they need to be an
integral part of these services (Oakeley 2001). The appropriate roles of CBAHWs must be
recognized by law and incorporated into the regulations governing animal health services.
However, poor cooperation between CBAHWs and these traditional veterinary service
providers has commonly left CBAHW programs reliant on structures set by the infrastructure
of nongovernmental that established them (Sikana et al. 1992). Since one of the cornerstones
of these programs is the referral of more complex cases and notifiable diseases to the
professional veterinary system, the reporting of such cases has been patchy and ineffective
because the professional system has low regard for CBAHW system. Oakeley (2001) reports
that CBAHWs in Ghana carry an annually renewable license, which helps clarify the roles of
these workers to all stakeholders, including other veterinarians and farmers.
In Kenya the legal status of CBAHWs is particularly important with regard to the sale
and use of veterinary drugs. Drug sales to livestock keepers are an important source of
income, and restrictive drug controls constrain the role that CBAHWs are able to play (De
Haan and Bekure 1991). If livestock keepers must go to veterinary drug shops for medicines,
they are unlikely to seek the advice of CBAHWs who cannot provide the drugs they
prescribe. The argument against liberalization of drug regulations is that it will risk the
misuse of these drugs by poorly trained operators and farmers. This risk could be minimized
by careful training and supervision of CBAHWs. Moreover, the existence of unofficial
markets for veterinary drugs undercuts this argument against liberalization. These unofficial
markets enable livestock keepers to buy and administer drugs unsupervised. The potential
misuse of drugs obtained from unofficial markets could be minimized through the enhanced
activities and accessibility of adequately trained CBAHWs.
Oakeley (2001) argues that while the literature discusses how to engender community
participation, it offers few insights into facilitating their institutional participation. Available
literature reveals that key stakeholders such as field veterinary staff are not adequately
involved in the planning and operation of some CBAHW projects (Sikana et al. 1992).
NGOs have set up many projects to fund and support the early stages of
implementation. Consequently, government services are not involved and thus feel no control
or ownership when attempts are made to institutionalize the CBAHW model. Further
complication arises from the fact that there exists little information as to whether these