10,000 women farmers to get free vaccines against newcastle disease

Ten thousand women farmers in the Northern, Upper East and West regions are to benefit from free vaccination against outbreak of newcastle disease.

The exercise will be done under the Shepherd project that is expected to be launched in 2018 by Cowtribe Technology, co-founded by 2017 Queen’s Young Leader Award recipient from Ghana, Alimatu Bawah Wiabriga.

According to Alimatu, the newcastle disease claims 90 per cent of chicken annually due to the lack of awareness by farmers on the disease and the availability of preventive measures.

Rural woman keeps chicken from which they put food on the table, pay their children’s schools fees and health needs yet these chickens are lost to the disease that could be prevented by a simple vaccine, she said in a phone interview following the announcement of the Queen’s young leaders award on December 5.

Alimatu is currently in Spain-Barcelona, Participating in a 10-week accelerator program-Fledge.

She has called on government to pay attention to the livestock sector to demonstrate its commitment towards attaining food security in the wake of recent climate variations and its impact on crops.

The organisation

Launched 18 months ago, Cowtribe Technology, the first mobile on-demand veterinary services in Ghana, has served 29,000 farmers from 119 communities across the Northern, Upper East and West regions.

It aims to reduce livestock mortality and increase productivity and income of farmers with a vaccines to prevent diseases most of which are transferred to humans through the consumption of milk and meat.

The award

The award which is in its final year, will be honouring 60 exceptional young people and to afford them opportunities to step up as leaders and improve the lives of many others in the Commonwealth.

Winners will receive a bespoke award package from Her Majesty The Queen at Buckingham Palace.

It will include meetings with senior UK political and business leaders and a year of training and mentoring from the University of Cambridge.