Keeping up with technology: the use of mobile telephony in delivering community-based decentralised animal health services in Mwingi and Kitui Districts, Kenya

This paper explores the introduction of mobile phones and community pay phones within FARM-Africa's Kenya Dairy Goat and Capacity Building Project (KDGCBP), implimented in the districts of Mwingi and Kitui.&nbsp;<br /><br />The authors describe how a&nbsp;freeze in the employment of veterinary graduates by the Kenyan government as a direct result of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) in the 1980s has resulted in a steady decline in the number of veterinary personnel over the last twenty years. To improve farmer livelihoods in the The Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (the area most affected by the policy change), the KDGCBP was introduced in the marginalised and resource-poor districts&nbsp;of Mwingi and Kitui. However, poor awareness of animal health and the subsistence-oriented production systems, combined with a poor communication and transport infrastructure, meant that conventional models of private animal health services would not be suitable and, as a result, an alternative animal health delivery service was implemented. A&nbsp;system incorporating a network of Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs), Animal Health Assistants (AHAs) and Veterinary Surgeons was introduced. Mobile phones and community pay phones were supplied to&nbsp;enable effective communication at all levels within the network, mobile phones and community pay phones were supplied. <br /><br />The authors conclude that overall, the introduction of this new technology has been a success, noting that: mobile phones have played a key role in fighting livestock disease outbreaks and&nbsp;have contributed to increased attendance and participation in animal health providers&rsquo; meetings, which can now be convened or cancelled at short notice. use of mobile phones has reduced the transaction costs to the farmer since it is now <br />possible to make a diagnosis over the phone without incurring transportation costs. use of mobile phones has helped the AHAs and vets increase profit margins at their <br />veterinary drug shops; they have used them to place orders for drugs, thus avoiding the <br />time and expense of unnecessary trips for drug procurement. the introduction of community pay phones has led to increased drug shop business <br />particularly in the rural towns. through the use of mobile phones the KDGCBP beneficiaries, who are mostly poor <br />farmers, are more informed about what is happening around them particularly in relation <br />to disease occurrences and market prices of animals. the use of mobile phones by the animal health service providers has greatly increased <br />their social capital and networks. <br /><br />