I remember speaking with Mwaniki, the 42-year old man known all over our small town on the eastern edge of Aberdare Hills. You see, the population of about 10,000 all depended on Mwaniki, for he was the primary caregiver for the local livestock. He had promised that he would be coming to our home in a few hours.
We were used to this promise, for as much as he tried, Mwaniki could only see a limited number of animals per day. We were not lucky that day, and that is how Monica, my cow passed on.
My neighbor Wambui narrates a similarly horrendous ordeal as she recalls watching her only source of livelihood die for lack of access to veterinary care. Sally, one of the most beautiful cows in the village, always gave a good milk yield. From the sales of the milk, Wambui managed to educate all her children and feed her family. Sally died from a complicated birth; the locals say the cow had a retained placenta.
Mwaniki was seemingly among the last pool of the ever-shrinking group of rural veterinarians. He spent hours in a day traversing the region, often covering about 120miles in his dusty gray pick-up truck. His services included performing emergency C-sections, artificial insemination and the general veterinary services. He rarely had a predictable day in the office. When in the office, he would probably be neutering dogs and attending to coughing cats in an office, dressed in a white lab coat.
Twenty years down the line, I often wonder how the villagers are getting access to veterinary services, By now, Mwaniki must be too old, but I really hope that someone took his place.
Is this a sign that clearly indicates the plight of poor veterinary care in the rural areas? Is there dire need to deploy more veterinarians to the rural areas to focus on the farm animals other than paying attention to companion animals back in the city?
Unnecessary deaths of animals in the rural areas
Hundreds of thousands of animals are dying unnecessarily in rural areas, mainly due to a shortage of veterinarians. Some of these unnecessary deaths may be from unproductive labor, to damaged uterus or deaths from the calving process. From experience, I know that whether in humans or in animals, giving birth should be a fulfilling process, but only when overseen by a professional. But in many cases, these professionals are unavailable or are too few in the rural areas.
These deaths are 100% preventable if some of the veterinarians we have graduating annually from the vet schools decide its time they also focused or rather gave attention to the animals in the larger part of the rural areas. They do not only need them but require them in every aspect of their lives. I fully support the saying that veterinarians are the ears and eyes of today’s farms. After all, that is where most of us hailed from before urbanization took a toll on us. East or west ought to remain the best people!
It’s greener in the big cities
One of the problems in the rural areas is that the economy does not support the veterinarian. But we have enough large farm animals to support a medical practice. There is enough work for the veterinarians in the rural areas. In fact, back in the rural areas, one can choose be a jack of all trades. You can perfect the art of treating both the large and companion animals.
There is this general feeling that you have to work for small animals in order to pay your bills or put food on the table. That’s not true. Large animals pay as much. When embarking on a career in the veterinary schools, I think it’s vital to consider being in a mixed practice, serving both small (companion) and large animals.
A chunk of animals in the rural areas unvaccinated
Walking into any homestead in the rural areas, you will probably find a dog and her puppies happily playing, with the owner probably toiling in the farm.
If you ask the owner if his dog or cat is vaccinated, the inevitable answer will be a straight no! Not because they are ignorant. Where are these services even found? Who offers them? I wouldn’t be surprised if the word veterinarian exists in their vocabulary. In the rural areas, most people know that vets only treat cows, not dogs or even goats.
It is little surprise that most bites by rabid doges are reported from the rural areas. Children are often the victims of the bites, with families assuming the bites to be normal. Since many families will not have heard of rabies vaccinations, hospital treatment is often not sought until it is too late and lives are lost.
Delivering qualitative veterinary services in the rural areas is very important, not only for the animals but also the development of the veterinary industry as a whole.
Shortage of people to purchase the services?
We may put the blame on vets, but the problem may solely lie with the residents in the rural areas. Other than the few incidences of a few animals here and there dying as a result of lack of access to veterinary services, the veterinarians might also be facing one problem – lack of potential clients to buy their services. Maybe the number of livestock has declined. There is not enough livestock to support the vets in these areas. They probably end up in the urban areas where they are assured of at least a client a day who wants their pet treated or vaccinated. What then would hinder them from sticking to the city?
Improving vet care in rural areas
The poor state of veterinary care whether real or perceived ought to be improved. How best can this be done? The veterinary schools need to provide positive exposure to rural practices, farm animals and agricultural practices early in the veterinary curriculum. There is dire need to change the veterinary curriculum drastically. Perhaps change some veterinary colleges to graduate only large animal veterinarians and others to graduate small animal veterinarians only.
Sensitization in the rural areas about the importance of seeking veterinary services would come in handy. Most people in these areas lack knowledge on what is best for their animals, hence chances of consulting a vet are close to zero. They even tend to diagnose the animals themselves, because of the notion that they have been practicing animal rearing for a longer time than the vets have been alive.
A fair percentage of veterinarians need to be deployed to the rural areas. This will not help in improving veterinary care services in the rural areas but also decongest the urban centers. There are not as many clinics in the urban, but there is an obvious competition in the industry in the city.
Opportunities in the Rural areas for Animal Health Scientists
Access to quality animal health services still remains a fundamental problem for livestock farmers in the rural areas forcing farmers to result to self-treatment or to selling sick animals for consumption, which has undesirable health implications. These practices also result in significant financial losses for farmers for they depend on livestock to progress national agriculture production.
As the demand for animal health professionals who work with large animals such as cows and horses continues to increase, opportunities in the rural areas that the animal health scientists can exploit and improve the state of the veterinary care in the rural areas also continues to increase. Such include;
- The opportunity to save the lives of the dwindling populations of large animals due to poor veterinary care.
- Saving farmers losses associated with losing animals that die due to lack veterinary treatment
- Limited veterinary clinics in the rural areas as compared to the urban centers.
- Limited competition in terms of the number of clients wanting their animals treated or examined.
- One can handle both large and small animals as compared to the urban areas which are dominated by the small animals.
