- Case Studies Homepage
- AV DRUM 21 helps fight HIV/AIDS in Tanzania
- Beating Bird Flu in Nigeria
- Ministry of Health, Malawi gets to grips with HIV/AIDS
- Working with ZANIS to enhance civic education in Zambia
- Aiming high in Ghana with the Ford Everest
- Tanzania Cotton Farmers get the latest advice with AV DRUM 21
- Building national consciousness in Nigeria
Beating Bird Flu in Nigeria
The H5N1 avian influenza virus has the potential to inflict very serious harm on the Nigerian economy, threatening the livelihoods of millions of poor livestock farmers, jeopardizing smallholder entrepreneurship and commercial poultry production, and seriously impeding regional and international trade and market opportunities. At particular risk are the rural poor who rely for a large share of their income on poultry and who will be hardest hit by the loss of income and social distress. That's why the World Bank set up the US$50 million, The Avian Influenza Control and Human Pandemic Preparedness and Reponse Project in January 2006. It aims to control the virus and prevent the further spread of the Highly Pathogenic Avian (HPAI) to the parts of Nigeria not yet infected.
There are three components to the project, one of which is Social Mobilization and Strategic Communication. This component is designed to promote public awareness and participation, so that the disease can be contained and eventually eliminated. To do this requires a mix of intense local awareness raising activity where there's an outbreak and an ongoing education programme where the risk is high. To implement the component the Avian Flu Control Project needed a flexible communication tool, that could be used to target specific communities where the birds were most at risk.
The Project found what they were looking for, with the AV DRUM 21 mobile video projection vehicle. So to make sure they covered all the key regions, the Project ordered 24 vehicles; enough to serve all states in Nigeria. The vehicles were distributed to ensure best geographic coverage of the country meaning that they were never far away if the disease flared up, and could easily reach remote areas on regular awareness-raising missions.
Each Toyota Land Cruiser was converted to AgriVisual specifications including the standard video projector and rear projection screen, PA system and video and sound recording equipment. As part of our usual customer care programme, operators were invited to the Project headquarters in Abuja for in-depth training about how best to use AV DRUM 21 , look after the equipment and gather feedback for future project planning.
The Project has been very successful and the risk of H5N1 is receding, but as a valuable asset of the Veterinary Service of the Ministry of Agriculture, the vehicles are now being used to improve knowledge about smallholder husbandry in other ways.