VETS UNITED in Kenya
Training for lecturers teaching surgical medicine and herd health
Situation of Animal Welfare and Animal Welfare Education in Kenya
Kenya is one of the African countries offering a veterinary degree for many years. Since 1963, there are also comprehensive Animal Welfare regulations in place. The national professional associations are committed to support the enforcement of these existing laws. Typical animal welfare issues in Kenya are for instance poor housing conditions, malnutrition and insufficient veterinary care.
In 2014/15 Animal Welfare was integrated as a topic into the national curricula for animal heath related studies in Kenya. Still there is a severe lack of teaching content as well as good teaching materials and teachers‘ expertise on animal welfare which the project addresses.
Facts and Figures
Focus: Animal Welfare in Academic Education
Project manager: Dr Calvin Solomon Onyango
Partners: Egerton University, Pwani University, Kenyatta University, Nairobi University and Massai Mara University
Start of the programme: 2020
Target groups: lecturers in animal health related studies and their students
Course: lectures and workshops on animal welfare based on the WTS VETS UNITED Animal Welfare Training Guide
Conditions in the country: 2.500 registered vets, 8.000 VPPs (KVB, 2018) (Germany: 42.000, BTK 2018); 100 million livestock (Census 2009), especially goats, chickens, sheep and cattle (Germany: 212 Mio, 2019); 580,350 km2 area (Germany: 357,580 km2 ); 53.5 million population in 2020 (Germany: approx. 83.7 Mio.)
Development of the project
The project in Kenya started in 2020 and is one of the newest VETS UNITED projects directly targeting teachers to ensure the sustainability of the programme. Over a period of two years two lecturers from five selected universities in Kenya teaching surgical medicine and herd health will be trained in specific animal welfare workshops to improve the animal welfare education long term. The basis for the training is the VETS UNITED Animal Welfare Training Guide.
In 2021, a survey was conducted among working veterinarians and VPPs to find out which animal welfare topics are particularly relevant in their daily work. The results have been used to supplement and expand the curriculum.
In the long run, the aim is to include the animal welfare content into the curricula of all animal health related courses in Kenya.
VETS UNITED is a joint project of Welttierschutzgesellschaft and Welttierschutzstiftung with projects in the following countries:
Ihre Ansprechpartnerin für Fragen:
Dr. Wendy Phillips
Senior Manager Programme
Tel.: +49(0)30 – 9237226-0
E-Mail: wp@welttierschutz.org