The Community Animal Health Network (CAHNET) is a membership forum that brings together stakeholders engaged in animal health activities in the eastern Africa region. CAHNET provides a platform for networking and sharing of information aimed at triggering change in practice and promoting new innovative initiatives in animal health care in the region.

Vision

A vibrant livestock industry in the Eastern African region with livestock keepers reaping full benefits from their livestock.

Mission

To contribute to improved animal health status in Eastern Africa region through enhanced information sharing, capacity building and lobbying for favourable policy and legal environment.

• To improve access to affordable and quality animal health products and services for livestock keepers across the eastern Africa region
• To strengthen the capacity of stakeholders in the livestock sector especially livestock keepers to articulate their needs, seek for sustainable solutions and present their views to policy makers and implementers for action
• To contribute towards a favourable Policy and legal framework for livestock sector development
• To effectively contribute to addressing regional issues that affect development of the livestock sector
• To facilitate two-way sharing of information with potential to improve the livestock sector to stakeholders of CAH delivery system, policy makers, researchers, training institutions, veterinary professionals, development organisations supporting the livestock sector and livestock keepers
• To enhance the institutional capacity of CAHNET to effectively contribute to improvement of the livestock sector

• Participation: We are committed to facilitating active involvement of all stakeholders in livestock sector
• Professionalism: We are dedicated to provision of timely and quality services to our stakeholders
• Integrity: We are committed to acting in an honest, accountable and transparent manner in all our undertakings
• Empowerment: We use methods that aim to build capacity of our stakeholders especially livestock keepers to take charge of their situations
• Dynamism: We seek and adapt to new changes either to improve our work processes or livestock sector
• Networking: we shall establish and facilitate networking with all actors involved in livestock sector

Livestock are an important asset in Africa and the need to safeguard their health is vital. It is estimated that livestock-derived food items (meat, milk and eggs) alone contributed around 30 percent to the agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2003. Around 10 percent of the human population of Sub-Saharan Africa is primarily dependent on livestock, while another 58 percent at least partially depend on livestock.

Nearly 60 percent of the value of edible livestock products is generated by cattle in the form of meat and milk, while small ruminants (meat and milk) and poultry (meat and eggs) generate around 20 percent each. Africa’s human population has been growing at an average rate of 2.7 percent annually over the past 20 years. Projections indicate that the African population will be about 1.1 billion by the year 2015. The urban population has been growing at an even higher rate (4.2 percent per year over the same period).

It is estimated that by 2015 about 490 million people will be living in cities and large towns. This increasing urbanisation will further amplify the growth in demand for food of livestock origin. Despite a rising demand for livestock products, the annual growth rates in production over the last decade have been variable across Africa with the exception of North Africa where production has outstripped population growth.

If current livestock production trends continue unchanged, the output of meat, milk and eggs will substantially fall short of future demand and the shortages will increasingly have to be met through imports. The challenges are daunting but can be met if concerted efforts are made to address the major constraints facing livestock production in Africa. Access to quality and timely information on animal health care services, extension, husbandry, drugs, vaccines and markets is probably the most significant constraint that needs to be addressed urgently if Africa’s productive capacity is to be improved.

CAHNET provides a platform through which the exchange of such information can be made possible and accessible.

CAHNET creates awareness of new and existing interventions in livestock health and production by facilitating information exchange among key players in livestock production and animal health. CAHNET provides a forum for networking and sharing of knowledge to facilitate change in current livestock management practices and policies in the region.

CAHNET is run by a secretariat based in Kenya with country offices in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda. The secretariat is a team of professionals who oversee day-to-day activities of the network. An annually elected Steering Committee provides strategic direction on network activities. The committee is elected by members at an Annual General Assembly.

CAHNET uses a number of approaches to foster networking and information sharing. Our main platforms are the radio, print, word of mouth, mobile phones and the web. CAHNET has recently ventured into the use of audio and visual podcasts as aids to enhance learning and understanding of innovations and trends in animal health and production.

By promoting learning and sharing through such aids, CAHNET facilitates the formation of strong linkages between the researchers who develop the innovations and the livestock keepers who use them.