Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Animal Health

Official Feed the Future signature and image of boy milking cow

Research

In September 2020, Washington State University’s Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health (Allen School) was awarded a $6 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Feed the Future Animal Health Innovation Lab, focused in Nairobi, Kenya will serve to address public health challenges related to agriculture and food security.

The lab will identify interventions to address livestock diseases, particularly East Coast Fever (ECF), and develop capacity in-country in both research training and institutional development for long-term impact.

The Allen School’s Global Health – Kenya will lead the Feed the Future Animal Health Innovation Lab program taking an interdisciplinary approach to addressing livestock diseases, working in partnership with scientists from the University of Nairobi, International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization, and the Kenya Medical Research Institute

calf standing in doorway

Feed the Future Animal Health Innovation Lab components include:

Research

  • Improvement of the Infection and Treatment Method vaccine
  • Development of pen-side diagnostics
  • Improvement of the ECF sub-unit vaccine
  • Integrating socio-economics and gender in animal health interventions for improving human nutrition and welfare

 Human Capacity Development – developing the next-generation of animal health researchers

  • Post-doctoral research
  • PhD training (9 PhD positions)
  • Masters training (5 Masters level positions)
  • Undergraduate students  exposure to research

Institutional Capacity Development

  • Set up of a molecular and diagnostic lab at the University of Nairobi Veterinary School
  • Support for the research structures at the University of Nairobi