Primary Animal Health Care in Ethiopia: The ... - Ethiopian Review

The first Para vets were trained in the 1970s in the middle Awash by the RRC (now DPPC). Thirdgrade and above were trained but there was a lack of clear objectives as to their role and later theybecome involved in illegal animal drug dealing.1975-1987 Thousands of farmers selected from peasant associations received six months trainingin basic animal health and animal production by the government-run Agarfa PeasantTraining Centre during the Derg regime. The trainees were called “Farmers AnimalHealth Representatives” (FAHR). The basic concept of training Farmers AnimalHealth Representatives arose due to the severe shortage of qualified staff, veterinaryclinics and health stations which made the follow-up of disease outbreak and controldifficult. In order to partially solve this problem, basic animal health care training hasbeen provided to selected farmer's representatives in some parts of the country. Theserepresentatives were often also given the responsibility of liasing with the nearbyveterinary stations in case of disease outbreaks.1986-1995 Fourth Livestock Development Project trained (FLDP) “Farmers Animal HealthRepresentative”, linked to co-operatives. Drug shops were opened within service cooperativesin the highland areas and FAHRs were trained to assist AHTs to sellacaricides and anthelmintics only. For various reasons this project was notsuccessful. It was implemented by Government using conventional, top-downapproaches in which “community” was synonymous with “peasant associations”.1974 – 1989 Third Livestock Development Project trained "Vet scouts", in Afar under NERDU, inSomali under JIRDU and in Borana under SORDU. These units were constituent partof TLDP. The vet scouts were trained for three months in basic animal health care.After training the vet scouts were employed by the project and paid salaries. Theystopped working when the projects was phased out.1989 – 2001 FARM Africa Dairy Goat Development Project trained mostly women as vet scoutsin Eastern and Western Hararghe zones of Oromiya region and Konso, Walayita andDalocha areas of Southern Ethiopia during its project life. This project was involvedin promoting the use of small ruminants as key food security interventions. Theessential feature of the process was the training of women CAHWs and encouragingtraining in the use of private drug supplies by CAHWs through cooperative groups.1989 – 1995 When TLDP ended, SORDU continued as a joint project with Fourth LivestockDevelopment Project (FLDP) and trained 164 paravets (vet scouts). Theses wereoperating without supervision and without refresher training.1991 – 2000 The Southeast Rangelands Project (SERP), a hybrid Phase 2 and Phase 3 RangelandProject, was initiated in 1991/92 with funding from the ADB. The SERP project areaincluded the eastern Hararghe and Ogaden rangelands and trained a total of 480paravets. SERP combined the infrastructure development and service delivery focusof the TLDP with a pilot community development program.1994 – 1996 FAO emergency project trained 100 "Community Veterinary Agents (CVA)" inNorth Wollo, and Wag Hamra zone of the Amhara regional state and Tigray regionalstate. For varying reasons these projects were not successful. Drug supply systemsbased on revolving funds failed and post-training monitoring did not take place.1994-1997 Afar Pastoralists Development Pilot Project (APDP) was European Union financedand implemented by Ministry of Economic Development and Co-operation jointlywith Afar National Regional State in Zone 3 of the Afar region (Dulecha, Fentale,Argoba and Amibara weredas). Sixty CAHWs were trained from three districts.CAHWs after being given an initial kit, sell drugs at market prices plus a ten-percentmark up, which is payment for services. When they run out of drugs, they were resuppliedthrough either private drug vendors in Methara or through weredaagriculture office.6