Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Training on Strategies for Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) held in the Department of Clinical Studies under KEET-JOINT project on December 5, 2019.

This is a collaborative project “Initiating a Training Network and Capacity Building to Improve Control of Foot and-Mouth Disease in Kenya and Ethiopia.” The collaborating institutions include: University of Nairobi (through investigators who are academic members of the Department of Clinical Studies as well as Veterinary Pathology, Microbiology and Parasitology), Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Addis Ababa University (AAU) and Institute of Primate Research (IPR) with participation Directorate of Veterinary Services and Kenya Veterinary Vaccines Production Institute.

The training was held in the Small Animal Seminar Room under the Department of Clinical Studies, with a Certificate of Authorization to offer Continuous Professional Development (CPD) by the Kenya Veterinaty Board (KVB). The participants were welcomed by the Chairman of the Department of Clinical Studies Prof. J. Nguhiu-Mwangi and the training was opened by the then Acting-Dean Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Prof George Gitau. There were over 50 participants in attendance.

Foot-and-Mouth is an important disease of livestock affecting production and reproductive performance of farm animals. The topics covered during the training included: FMD overview in Kenya/Ethiopia, epidemiology & amp; diagnosis, disease reporting, sampling & sample shipment, biosafety & amp; biosecurity of FMD, risk factors for spread of FMD, vaccine production, eradication of FMD and farmers’ experience in FMD outbreaks. The workshop was a fruitful learning for the professionals who are involved in day-to-day disease surveillance, treatment and control.