The positive effects of pain relief
A Brooke-funded project helps livestock in Kenya.
Livestock (including donkeys) in the Narok, Kajiado and Isiolo regions of Kenya are now receiving pain relief thanks to a six-month project supported by Brooke’s Innovation Fund.
Before the project, animal health practitioners in the area were not using pain relief when treating animals, largely due to lack of awareness about the importance of these medicines. Lack of pain relief can cause animals great discomfort and slow down their healing process.
To ensure sick and injured livestock had better access to this medicine, Brooke partnered with Kenyan social enterprise Sidai.
Positive social changes
Social enterprises create positive social changes in the community or beyond. In this case, Sidai has shops across Kenya selling high-quality agricultural products like medicines, seeds and feeds at affordable prices to farmers and animal health practitioners. Many of their shops are located in remote rural areas where access to agricultural products is limited.
In this project, Brooke trained senior Sidai staff on the importance, value, and best way of using pain relief medicines. Brooke explained that animals would experience better welfare, heal faster and work more productively if they felt less pain. Brooke-trained Sidai staff were then able to cascade this knowledge to Sidai shop staff, local farmers and around 445 animal health practitioners across the three regions.
After the project
Sidai has reported an increased number of animal health practitioners are now buying and using pain relief and are seeing the positive effect on animals.
Staff in Sidai stores now provide advice to customers on pain relief, and stores are now stocking pain-killing medicines, ensuring those who need it can access it. Before the project, these medicines were not available simply because there was no demand.
What’s next
Although the initial innovation project has come to an end Sidai plans to continue promoting pain relief and is looking into the possibility of rolling out the project nationally.